OUR ANSWER: There was no such thing as a female becoming a monk until July 19, 1999, when our Ministry, The Prayer Foundation ™ was incorporated in the State of Oregon, including our Knights of Prayer ™ Monastic Order.    On that date Monk Linda became the first woman Monk in the history of Christendom (see our web pages: Monk Linda: The First Lady Monk, and Why Lady Monks?.  Our own Monk Linda also had a dream of becoming a Monk, but did not think it was possible (it wasn't at that time).  However, "with God all things are possible"; "he shall give you the desires of your heart." (Matthew 19:26; Psalm 37:4).

Supporters of this ministry may register as a Monk with our Knights of Prayer ™ Monastic Order.  We are only granting an official recognition that you are already "a monk in your heart."  In traditional terminology, you are becoming an "Oblate" of our Order.  However, our Order is also unique in that we grant Full-Monk Status to our Oblates.

We do have a "class" that you can take: It is a series called Growing In Christ, which also includes our Memory Verses Series.  These are for the training of our Knights of Prayer ™ Monks, but we have posted them on our web site so that they are available free of charge to any Christian who wishes to benefit from them.

For more information about our Knights of Prayer ™ Monastic Order and becoming one of its Lay Monks, see also:

ORIGINAL E-MAIL 9/16/02: I want to grow in my prayer life, but I'm not sure how.  I have prayed that God will show me what to do.  I have a list of people that I pray for about various things (healing, salvation, a job, etc).  I feel that I pray the same thing every day.  I want more in my prayers for these people and for myself and family.  Please let me know what I can do to make my prayers more heartfelt (sometimes I feel I'm just reciting them).
I do talk to God throughout he day and express my feelings to Him on a daily basis, but it's not in prayer form.  It's more like just talking to someone in the room.  But I still want a better prayer life.                     Thanks,                                                                                                      Karen W. (Virginia)

Note from The Prayer Foundation ™: Our in-depth answer to Karen's E-mail is found on our page: Open Letter On Prayer.  Part of it talks about memorizing and praying the Psalms, and also recommends listening to J. Vernon McGee (Thru The Bible) Radio Program.

UPDATE 9/18/02: Thank you so much.  I have J. Vernon McGee's "Thru the Bible" commentaries in books.  I have all the books of the Bible and have been studying for about 3 years.  God is so good because when I asked to have a better prayer life I started studying Psalms.  I realized that Psalms is a prayer book and I have started praying some of the verses and psalms I like.
Your reply must be God's way of letting me know that I am well on the way to a better prayer life.  Thank you for allowing God to use you to speak to me.                                                                                                  In Christ,                                                                                                      Karen W. (Virginia)

Note from The Prayer Foundation ™: We can not recommend Dr. McGee's teaching too highly.  You are obviously doing well in your spiritual studies.  Martin Luther said that one thing he loved about the Psalms was that we got to see the actual words that David and some other Old Testament Saints used when they prayed.  You may also want to look at our page: Athanasius: Praying the Psalms, (written by the same Athanasius who wrote the Athanasian Creed). _____________________________________________________________