Why "Just Pray About It!" is horrible advice for Christian Professionals!!!

Christian Professional X: I’m really angry at someone at work, and I dont know what to do!

Christian Professional Y: Just pray about it, bro/sis!

We’ve all heard, given, or received this kind of advice. While it is good on it’s surface. It doesn’t take into consideration what a person believes and knows about prayer.

For some, prayer is merely giving your feelings to the “magic genie in the sky” aka God, and hope He makes them go away. For others, prayer is their way of feeling some kind of control over a situation, as if it is a magic spell or amulet. They may even clutch a cross, bible, or some other relic, as a point of faith while praying. Both of the above are valid and have scriptures that may validate praying this way, but they are incomplete.

Scripture often also shows prayer to be a long game. Archbishop Veron Ashe used to say “prayer changes you, until things change”. That is the point isn’t it? When we offer advice to people to pray, proper context must also be given perhaps.

Prayer is a learned behavior, which makes it a skill, and not merely a conversation, though it is that too.¹ This is why the disciples In the Lord’s Prayer (also called the “…Our Father”), we literally see this:

Here is the Our Father prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Amen.

So if we read it conceptually, we get this:

• Meditate who God is in relation to you

• Meditate on God’s holiness

• Meditate on His future promises

• Learn and trust in His commandments

• Meditate on God’s sovereignty

• Meditate on His provision

• Meditate on His love, grace, and forgiveness

• Meditate on how He is changing you and conforming you to the image of His son. Think about what actions you will take to live like Christ in the earth. How will you also, as a child of God, show love, grace, and forgiveness

So, as you can see, if we read it conceptually, and meditatively, these aren’t just empty words, empty sayings. It will take TIME!!! As much as it is a simple quick prayer we can pray, during services, morning and evening prayer, it is also a meditation.

So when we tell people “just pray about it”, we should mean, spend time meditating on these things. Especially spend time on how God may want to change you in (and perhaps with) this circumstance?

Prayer is “simple”, but it’s also not “simple”; and takes learning, discipline, and much inner reflection to do it “properly”.

While focusing on the long term game is good and fine, you may say, “that doesn’t help me in this moment while I am feeling the emotions of anger and stress!”. While you are “thinking on these things…”.  

Here are some ways to calm the parasympathetic nervous system, while you are praying and meditating:

• - Focus on deep, rhythmic breathing to help center your mind and body.

• - Recite the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") slowly and with intention.

• - Light a candle or incense to create a calming atmosphere and symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit.

• - Practice gratitude by reflecting on the blessings in your life and offering thanks to God.

• - Engage in gentle physical movements, like bowing or making the sign of the cross, to integrate body and spirit.

• - Listen to or chant hymns to immerse yourself in sacred sounds that soothe the soul.

• - Meditate on a passage of Scripture, allowing its meaning to resonate deeply within you.

• - Create a prayer corner with sacred objects to establish a dedicated space for peace and reflection.

• - Allow moments of silence to embrace stillness and listen for God's voice in your heart.

1  Remember christianity started in eastern cultural areas and is the result of it’s antecedent Hebrewism, so it is often “both/and” in how it deals with various subjects, as opposed to merely “either/or”.