The Happy Homeschool

Creative homeschooling inspiration rooted in relationships for the non-conformist, dedicated parent

  • Home
  • Blog/Podcast
  • Members
  • The Store

What Does it Mean to Pray

December 8, 2013 by Laura Blodgett Leave a Comment

RVWD is my abbreviation for Religious Vocabulary Word of the Day. (You can read my introduction to the RVWD series here.) I do not intend for these word investigations to be exhaustive, but I hope they stimulate some thinking about assumptions. Possibly they will help with honest evaluations about what is truth and what is unnecessary baggage in life.

When the politically acceptable English Bibles (I hope you are wondering what I mean by that) were being translated in medieval times, i.e. the Geneva and the King James Bible, the word pray was used like we use the words ask or beg. Even in my trusty Webster’s New World College Dictionary (Fourth Edition), the first definition of pray is to implore or beseech. The next is ask. After that, the definitions are more indicative of how the word is used in current culture rather than what the original translation meant.


When I look at Vine’s Expository Dictionary, both the Hebrew and the Greek words that are translated as pray mean to ask and beseech, or even to wish for. God himself tells us and encourages us to pray, directed at Him, for those things that concern us. So, even though the word has morphed into a religious word (unless you are at a medieval fair) that means simply “talking to a deity,” that wasn’t the original specific intent. I liked the explanation of the Hebrew meaning of prayer, based on the original words, in this article.

That doesn’t mean that prayer is the only thing we do when we express ourselves to God. Things like praising, giving thanks, and singing are also mentioned a bunch. But so is prayer. We don’t need to feel guilty for asking the All Powerful Being for things or outcomes when He says we should. That’s what it means to pray. He says we should pray a lot. It’s like He wants us to.

Filed Under: Bible News Press (BNP), Religious Vocabulary Word of the Day, Worldview Tagged With: RVWD

Family friendly read aloud books

Learn how to become a THH Heartbeat member
Kidsbooks

My other blogs


  • Fun Learning Chinese

  • Daily Improvisations

  • Fun Fitness After 50
  • Fun Learning Chinese
  • Daily Improvisations
  • Fun Fitness After 50
  • LauraBlodgett.com

Recent Comments

  • Laura on Phicol Issues Warning About Foreign Women
  • lauraimprovises on One Mother’s Journey in Discovering Economics: Finance Accounting with the 36 Hour McGraw-Hill Course Book
  • Ronibird on Realizing Your Love
  • Mom on Joy Based On Truth
  • 1st Rachael on Joy Based On Truth

Making sure you know that

Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, including affiliate links from amazon.com. See disclosures here.

About Me

If you want to know more about what I’m up to and where to read about it, here is a summary! You can email me at laura@thehappyhomeschool.com

Contact Me
First
Last
reCAPTCHA

To listen to The Happy Homeschool on Apple Podcasts:

Copyright © 2022 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in