What Does it Mean to Pray

[box]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. [/box]
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.