| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/18/2007 12:35:11 PM | I don't think this can be answered definitively. A positive answer would require the assumption that God exists, and go from there down the logic chain. Personally, I tend to think not.
I'm sure there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence, but that isn't the same as proof. I am sure that many supposed cases of prayer being answered are due to coincidence, or the actions of the person and their associates who create the right conditions for the desired result. Equally, I'd say that various pagan spell techniques are just as effective - because by desiring something to occur and focusing on the outcome you wish, you may change your behavior in ways that create the necessary conditions to increase the probability of the hoped-for result.
Prayers aren't always answered, but if praying makes you feel better, then go for it. You may get what you pray for, but I suspect it's not due to divine intervention. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/18/2007 8:07:20 PM | Very Well Said......allamericangirl1964
I believe GOD does answer pray, cares for US beyond our comprehension, hears all of our cries to him, and Phillip Yancey's book, "Prayer does it make any difference" is great on this topic. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/18/2007 10:40:18 PM | | Heart of Ice, I am so glad that you brought up the idea of praying to an inanimate object to see if the results were the same as praying to God. It is an excellent illustration of why we cannot put our faith in answered prayer or unanswered prayer either. Unless it were something truly miraculous like the parting of the Red Sea, we have no idea if something was not going to go that way anyways. We can pray for someone to fall in love with us and they do. Perhaps they were already in love with us. We can never be sure, that is why we are called on to go in faith. Like many of us have said, prayer changes us, and that is the most important thing and something one would not understand unless they pursued it. Help mate brought up a book I mentioned earlier, "Prayer--does it make any difference?" by Phillip Yancey. It is an excellent beginning point for someone who wants to know how and what to pray for. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/19/2007 7:03:00 PM | I believe that God has foreordained all things whatsoever comes to pass as it is stated in the Westminster Confession of Faith. I believe that God already knows what He is going to do before we ask in prayer, and He is the one who causes us to pray for specific things. There is not a word that we speak that He has not ordained. As it says in Proverbs, "The preparation of the heart belongs to man, but the words are from the Lord."
Do I believe that prayer changes God's mind? No, God has already ordained what He is going to do. It is God's will that we pray so that we may have the privilege of bringing our petitions to the throne of grace and interceding for others also.
I believe that God works all things out in the lives of His People according to His Holy Providence. This includes such events as finding a job, a mate, going to school, moving to another city, buying a house or a new car, etc. I believe God works things out providentially by opening up opportunities or hindering us so that opportunities do not work out and we are forced to change course in our lives.
God know the end from the beginning. This would include the things that we pray about. God does not have a Plan B. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/19/2007 8:21:39 PM | I believe that God has foreordained all things whatsoever comes to pass as it is stated in the Westminster Confession of Faith. I believe that God already knows what He is going to do before we ask in prayer, and He is the one who causes us to pray for specific things. There is not a word that we speak that He has not ordained. As it says in Proverbs, "The preparation of the heart belongs to man, but the words are from the Lord."
So in other words, you do not believe we have free will, and that free will was not part of God's plan.
isn't that a contradiction to the whole "pre-existance" war of the angels, where Satan wanted us to come to earth and live a pre destined life, vs jesus's who wanted us to live a life of free will?
Are you indicating that God is picking who is saved and who spends eternity in damnation?
Are you saying that if you commit suicide it was god's will and that by doing so you are honoring his will and therefore not sinning?
or that if you kill another person, that that is god's will and you are just doing what he wanted you to do, therefore, you are not breaking a commandment?
I would re-think your beliefs there sister....
(and.. i guess you have to respect my comments here because.. god made me write this, so i can't be wrong) | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/20/2007 4:31:19 AM | Of course god answers to prayers. Now, be careful who you are calling god, for god might be just you in disguise, really! So, you could be the one answering your own prayers, or not answering them. And how you answer your prayers (whether or not you get any results) is all dependent on how you feel about things, how you connect with things, how you understand them, your personal faith, your beliefs, etc, etc. There is so much more to this, you won't believe me. In the end you'll have to accept that things work the ways they do because....that is how they are, how they work.   | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/20/2007 8:12:07 AM | Not Done Living Together: No, I do not believe in free will. In theology, free will has to do with man's ability to believe the Gospel when it is presented to him. I am a Calvinist, and I believe that man is dead in sin and trespass as it says in Ephesians 2:1-5 and cannot believe unless and until God regenerates him (Ezekiel 36:26-27, John 3:1-10).
Yes, I believe that God has chosen from the foundation of the world who is saved and who is lost.
Free agency has to do with man's ability to make choices in this life and be accountable for them.
I don't know where you are getting this "pre-existence war of the angels where Satan wanted us to come to earth and live a predestined life and Jesus wanted us to live a life of free will." I have never seen that in the Bible. Man has no pre-existence. Satan had no say-so regarding man prior to man's creation. God certainly doesn't consult with Satan regarding His plans. God is sovereign and does whatsoever He wills. Satan is a creature; God is the Creator.
I think you may want to study theology and may be understand some of the great debates of the historic Christian Church before you post such nonsense.
Just because you were foreordained to write this doesn't mean it isn't wrong and isn't a sin. I suggest you evaluate what I am saying instead of being so snide. I don't have to respect stupid, nonsensical comments that are merely an attack on me and that make no contribution to the subject at hand. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/21/2007 11:24:50 AM | | And Can it be, I agree that the comments directed at you were snide. I also can see where this is difficult teaching to understand. Can you expand on it? Even if a person is a Christian, are you saying that whatever comes out of their mouth has been pre-ordained? If this is so, why does James 3 exhort us to tame our tongues? If you are a Christian and continually stumble, are you saying that God causes this? I am not attacking you. I just want to understand this thinking. It seems that the Bible has alot to say on what exactly is our responsibility. Surely we are not supposed to be helplessly resigned to whatever happens to us are we? | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/21/2007 12:27:00 PM | RDtoo: Your original question was whether our prayer changes God's mind. I said no it doesn't because God has foreordained all things whatsoever come to pass from the foundation of the world.
Some people take the doctrine of God's eternal decrees as an excuse to justify their own evil behavior. That is why I told the previous poster that I did not have to respect his comments that were merely an attack on me and that did not address the subject of "Does God answer prayer?"
Yes, I am saying in a very narrow sense that all of our words have been foreordained by God because He has foreordained all things. I believe He knows the end from the beginning. That means that He knows EVERYTHING that will ever happen. There is not one thing outside of His omniscience. He does not know things contingently. He knows them actually. He has control over everything in the universe. If there were one word that someone uttered that God didn't know in advance, it could change the course of history possibly. Then God would not be Sovereign over His Creation.
James tells us to tame our tongues because the tongue is an unruly fire. God is not responsible for the way we sin with our mouth in blaspheming God, gossiping about our about neighbors, bearing false witness, lying, etc. Those sins are entirely on our own heads. Just because God has ordained that we will do something doesn't make Him complicit in the guilt of the sin.
For example, God allowed Jesus to be crucified, but God was not guilty of murdering Jesus: "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross" (Acts 2:22-23 NIV).
I am not saying that God is responsible for our sin. God cannot sin neither does He tempt any man to sin. As it says in the NT, we sin when we are drawn away after our own lusts.
What I am saying is that there is no such thing as luck, fate, or chance. There is only God's decrees, and God's Providence. God rules this world to such a degree that a sparrow does not hop upon the ground without it being God's foreordained will.
In the Old Testament, the casting of lots was an appeal to God. It was a religious ceremony. We may now consider it a "game of chance," but there is no such thing as chance. As it says in Proverbs, "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing is of the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33).
I hope this helps answer your question. God answers prayers that deal with every aspect of His Peoples' lives. There is no detail of the life of a Christian that is too insignificant for God's Fatherly care. I believe that God guides us through His Providence and that we don't need to agonize over the past because we couldn't have changed it anyway. We did what we did by God's guidance and direction. We are where we are meant to be. God puts His People in the best spot for them to be today--even if that spot is in the midst of trial and affliction. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/21/2007 12:47:12 PM | Ask yourself to do the things you would ask this god to do... If all is preordained right to our choices, then asking for a change is to go against this god is it not? This makes no sense to me at all... Praying for a god to help change something it has already settled is in direct opposition to its will... Unless your god has no free will either... You want change? Raise a little hell.  | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/22/2007 4:55:30 PM | | There have been thousands of studies on this very thing. Every responsible (ie - double blind, taking large groups over a long period of time) study comes back the same - prayers don't alter the outcome. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/23/2007 7:17:39 AM | I believe that the Universe is God, apparently we where given freedom of choice,did we not?With in mind and the fact that" we reap what we sow/what you give out you get back" ten fold or a hundred fold. Guess what? If you believe your going to get your answer you will , and if you have a tendency to believe you allways get nothing , that is what you are sure to receive. You know why? Well you get exactly what you think you deserve.God answers every prayer.
Malabu | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/23/2007 8:23:44 AM | SO we were not in a pre-existance heaven?
There is no Arch Angel Michael?
There was no "Fall of Satan"?
Cool. That means no evil. For if there was no pre-existance, there was no Lucifer (the most beautiful angel of all) and then there was no fall of Lucifer, which means there is no Satan, which means there is no demons, or hell.
Phew.
I prefer to believe I am responsible for my actions. That I choose to do good over evil, and that i am not a puppet.
Yes my comment was snide, because this whole " i have no freedom" BS is just that.
In fact, the whole "God is an alien being and Mary was impregnated by aliens and Jesus was half alien" argument is easier for me to believe and comprehend than "you just go on being a puppet cause God already chose what life you are going to have and you have no way of changing it" belief.
MY God is a parent, who acts as a parent does in guiding and showing th way, while i am as a child who sees the lessons of his parent yet may or may not take heed of the knowledge and use it to his/her benefit.
My interpretation of your description of God is as a mob boss. A nasty mean belligerent entity. That god is unlovable. And i Love my god. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 7/23/2007 5:57:22 PM | Thy will be done, we just have to keep believing, and never lose hope that what he has in store for us will be perfect. I truly believe in pray, constant, and steady.
Well sttd. SUM.
PEACE BE WITH YOU ALL.
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/1/2007 6:02:51 PM | This is simply my opinion. In my heart, I firmly believe that god listens to everyone all the time. However, sometimes god has to say "no" !!! FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Sunsetta | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/3/2007 4:07:58 PM | God has 3 answers to every prayer: "Yes", "no" and "if you insist".
Watch what you pray for, you may get it. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/3/2007 8:38:25 PM | does god answer prayer................well...does your mother answer the door when she knows its you?...........lol
theres the old proverb.....of ask and you shall receive.......you may not always get things exactly how you want them.........but you will get what you need. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/3/2007 9:08:06 PM | "Does God answer prayer?"
Yes, God does. But God only answers the prayers of Godly people who ask for Godly things. Why would God answer the prayers of someone who serves Satan? Why would God answer a prayer that goes against His will? | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/3/2007 10:38:34 PM |
"Does God answer prayer?"
Yes, God does. But God only answers the prayers of Godly people who ask for Godly things. Why would God answer the prayers of someone who serves Satan? Why would God answer a prayer that goes against His will?
And of course when a godly, compassionate person who did all the right things and was saved and truly loved God with all their heart still dies of a malignant tumour, despite all of their praying, we all nod our heads knowingly and say "it was their time."
Or when a young child gets a rare form of leukemia and is taken before their time, we say "It was God's will" to take them, despite our desperate prayers for their wellness.
Then again, perhaps the former person was a closet Satan worshipper. The child secretly listened to Marilyn Manson on the ipod that was given to him and his immortal soul was damned.
Shucks...all that wasted praying time. What were we thinking. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/3/2007 11:00:32 PM |
And of course when a godly, compassionate person who did all the right things and was saved and truly loved God with all their heart still dies of a malignant tumour, despite all of their praying, we all nod our heads knowingly and say "it was their time."
You must have missed this...
SpiderCMB said...
Why would God answer a prayer that goes against His will?
I'm sure you already have heard the answers to you next comment/question, so don't ask. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/4/2007 12:22:44 AM | Obviously the correct answer is for the devout Christian - according to your interpretation - is do not pray to ask for things, for God knows what you need better than you do. Receive his will, submit to it joyfully and meekly and everything will work out like it is supposed to...
Which really contradicts a "yes" answer to the question. An honest answer would be to say, "Not really, because God already knows what you need or don't need and already decided if you get it, so thank him for your life and move on."
Whee. And there was much rejoicing. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/4/2007 4:46:48 AM | Themadfiddler: The one thing you will note in the Bible is that God never explains himself to man. When Job demanded an interview with God so that he could question God about why he was suffering so horribly, God immediately took control of the situation and interrogated Job. God has the sovereign right to do as he pleases and no other explanation is necessary.
The one thing that the Bible teaches is that suffering is for the present time only for God's elect. It is limited. God teaches us to trust Him even when "we see through a glass darkly" as it says in the New Testament. The very nature of faith is to persevere despite unanswered questions.
God expects us to pray without ceasing. Much of our prayer is to be spent praising God rather than demanding that He give us this or that. And yes, there is much rejoicing in praising God for His many, many wonderful attributes such as His purity, His holiness, His justice, His mercy, His pity on a rebellious creation, His common grace in sending rain on the just and the unjust alike, etc. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/4/2007 6:04:29 AM | This really is a simple question, but only for the faithful. God hears the prayers of his creations. He answers them. The question in my mind is, "are we listening for the answer". Man tends to pray with the anticipation that God will respond in the way we "want" Him to respond. Do we ignore the answer if it's not what we "want" to hear? Do we intentionally do things that prevent us from accepting the answer?
When we pray that our trespasses be forgiven, do we forgive others for trespassing against us first? In my mind, faith precedes the miracle. We must believe what we cannot prove if we really expect to begin to know God.
I believe that people suffer for a reason. If no one needed us then we would have no reason to do that which might bring solace and comfort to those that are suffering. I'm hesitant to blame God for the things we perceive as "bad" in the world. Man is fully qualified to mess up the world without blaming God for the things that happen. And some things just happen. It's not what happens that is important in life. It's how we respond to what happens that is important. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/4/2007 9:59:15 AM |
God expects us to pray without ceasing. Much of our prayer is to be spent praising God rather than demanding that He give us this or that. And yes, there is much rejoicing in praising God for His many, many wonderful attributes such as His purity, His holiness, His justice, His mercy, His pity on a rebellious creation, His common grace in sending rain on the just and the unjust alike, etc.
I appreciate your answer And It Can Be, as it is cogent and describes fairly accurately the traditional view of prayer without taking any swipes at anyone else. It also put me in mind of the fact that of course the other primary reason for prayer is to be "mindful" of the Divine.
Prayer is the state of mind by which one engages in ritualized communication with the Divine. It takes many shapes and forms, but the primary thing about it is a reverent, and focussed state of mind where one is directing their being towards the Divine. | |
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| Does God answer prayer?
Posted: 8/4/2007 10:01:17 AM |
Prayer is the state of mind by which one engages in ritualized communication with the Divine. It takes many shapes and forms, but the primary thing about it is a reverent, and focussed state of mind where one is directing their being towards the Divine.
Put that way, prayer could be considered the same as meditation... | |
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