I have followed your site for many years and asked a few questions from time to time. Now I have a big one.<\/p>\n
I have been a member of the church of Christ for many years. I do sermon readings, I always participate with answers in class, I say the prayers at the Lord’s Table and I have served my congregation in various ways.<\/p>\nI have rarely, in all my years attending, done a closing prayer. I have never done an opening prayer.
\nI avoid them because I do not do them well, get emotional, and usually cannot complete the prayer.\n
My question: Am I not supporting the local congregation in my failure to do these prayers? Will not doing these types of prayers cause me to lose my salvation and end up in torment? I have not found any scriptural material that states that\u00a0unless I do these prayers I will be lost, but I wanted to ask your opinion as well.<\/p>\n
Thank you so much in advance for your attention.<\/p>\n\t
“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body<\/em>” (I Corinthians 12:14-20).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Each of us has different abilities and preferences. There are things that I’m not really good at doing and I appreciate those with greater talents in those areas. I had a good friend who was great at teaching people individually, but he was terrified of teaching a large group. He did what he could. He was an asset to the congregation.<\/p>\n
You are discounting the things you do because you are able to do them easily. It isn’t that you can’t lead a prayer — you’ve done it — it just isn’t your favorite thing to do. That’s fine. If you are interested in improving that is also fine. But none of these means you are a failure as a Christian.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have followed your site for many years and asked a few questions from time to time. Now I have a big one. I have been a member of the church of Christ for many years. I do sermon readings, I always participate with answers in class, I say the prayers at the Lord’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1510],"class_list":["post-60831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-proper-for-a-church-to-pray-together-silently\/","url_meta":{"origin":60831,"position":0},"title":"Is it proper for a church to pray together silently?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brother Jeffery, Thanks for always answering questions. They've been helpful to me and the people around me. I want to ask you a question about the orderliness of prayer in the church. Can the church pray such that a time is given during worship, such as 10\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31582,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-read-a-prayer-in-worship-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":60831,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to read a prayer in worship services?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong to read a prayer in worship services? Answer: \"Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching\" (I Timothy 4:13). Many of the passages of the Bible are prayers, such as Jesus' prayer (John 17), Hannah's prayer (I Samuel 2),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-prayers-be-offered-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":60831,"position":2},"title":"How should prayers be offered in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where I need help is with prayers. Is it scriptural to pray saying \"In Jesus' name\" several times in between the prayer before concluding? Does it not count as vain repetitions? Is it scriptural to raise prayer points while everyone prays until the person leading will ask everyone to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21080,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-keep-my-thoughts-from-wandering-during-my-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":60831,"position":3},"title":"How do I keep my thoughts from wandering during my prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When I try to pray, I cannot always pay full attention. My mind wanders many times. I am cautious about my prayers, but I still drift away in my thoughts. Answer: When you read through the prayers recorded for us in the Bible, what becomes noticeable is that most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25566,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-trouble-remaining-focused-in-my-prayers-what-should-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":60831,"position":4},"title":"I have trouble remaining focused in my prayers. What should I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a couple of questions regarding my prayer life that are bothering me.\u00a0 I\u2019ve searched for the answers to these myself, but the only places I\u2019ve found them addressed is from the Catholic church, and I\u2019d rather hear an opinion from a member of the church of Christ.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32077,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-proper-to-publish-your-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":60831,"position":5},"title":"Is it proper to publish your prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Pleasant good morning, I'd appreciate some guidance, please.\u00a0I have observed prayers in the comment section under news articles of tragic incidents. When tragedy strikes I could, in the privacy of my home, say a prayer for those involved, and believe that God hears my prayers. 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