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In Matthew 6:8 Jesus says concerning prayer - "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." The question is then why ask Him? He already knows. Prayer is not for God. No more than any other command that God has given us. God knows all, hears all, and sees all. He doesn't need for us to pray to Him for Him to know what we need. The commandments that God gives are for us. Every command that God gives us is to develop us as Christians. Prayer helps to keep us focused on what the will of God is. It humbles us. It is the way that God has given us to speak to Him. When you understand that you then understand why Jesus tells us to go into ourt closets and pray. I don't know How God decides on whose prayer to answer. I have seen non-believers fall down in prayer as a last resort and get their prayers answered positively. I have seen believers pray all night and not get what they asked for. God also does not take claim for the prayers He answers. When God did something in the bible He always made it clear He was the one doing it. He left no doubt that He was responsible. I knew a christian lady that needed money. She prayed. An unexpected check showed up in the mail. She said it was God answering her prayer. God never said that He gave her the check. God never came to her and said " a check will be in the mail tomorrow. Look for it." That's what God does in the bible. He verbally tells you that He did it or gives some unmistakeable sign. The check just just showed up. Another christian lady I know of has been praying ceaselessly for tens of years for a good husband. No answer yet. It's a mystery to me. I do know that we know God's will from the bible and we work on it. We ask God to help us with it. All these other things I'm not sure of.

Without doubt, finding a job can be a very difficult task in these times. Anyone who has been laid off knows of the difficulties involved... Truthfully, the best things to do are 1) Trust God will provide and be thankful(Phil 4:6), 2) Do the best you can in terms of applying & following up, 3)Try to stay positive and be patient(not an easy thing sometimes!!). Hope this helps...

There was a similar incident in England on March 10th last year. Over 100 starlings fell from the sky into one back garden. Most were dead or dying. There was no obvious cause. I read that it has happened in other countries too .................... definately weird!!

One hundred applications over two years are not many. He has to pray to get a job. He must believe God unconditionally. Praying is a reminder to ourselves of God's love for us. Blessings His prayer life is not where it should be so I pray for him, as well as other relatives. I don't believe HE needs to pray in order to get a job. If that were the case, unbelievers would not be employed. Have you seen what job apps entail these days? It's not merely writing your contact info and past employment on a page that takes 5 minutes like it used to. It's a half hour long psychological profile and questionnaire full of "what ifs". You think it's no big deal to do this over 100 times only to get no response? (And no, he's not crazy)

Thank you to all who have taken time to reply to my question about prayer. I have read the replies carefully and I now see that the subject of prayer has many facets and I was simply looking at only ONE of them. I think that one of the thngs that I now understand is that if we spend time in discovering what the will of God is on a certain subject, we can know what to pray in order that God's will should be done in that situation. That way, when I pray I don't need to worry about things "Not being God's will" because they "WILL be God's will"! I will get there, slowly (very slowly) but surely !!!

Welcome back and Happy New Year to you too :-)

I have never fully understood about waiting for power from God. According to 2 Peter 1 : 3 Christians are given "Everything we need for life and godliness" at the moment of salvation. Maybe it isn't as simple as that. Maybe I am not seeing the scripture as I should be or Maybe I am taking it out of context. To me it seems quite straightforward.

Prayer is like testing to see if you have began to think like Christ in matters of importance... For if we ask according to His revealed purpose in the boundaries of His Name (as to His asking if standing where your standing)The Father will answer our prayers as prayed. It is one of the most intimate times for you as you work with God in them to bring about His Pleasure of purpose... The Father love our hearts when they are folded out to His pleasure as our greatest desire. Love Steven

Well I been thinking about your question (Why Pray), and figured to give my two cents. We all have families and as a father of children that grown up and moved out of the nest, I miss having conversations with them and when we do have those special moments we get to spend together, I cherish those moments. This past fall, my two sons and I went to hunt in NY. My oldest son shot a buck and radioed me to come to his spot and sit with him. I didn't care if I seen a deer or not, those few hours we spent sitting on a log talking were worth more to me than any deer. We are members of a bigger family, God is our father and he loves us so much that he gave us his son to save us from an eternity of misery. I'm sure God loves it when we have conversation (pray) with him to praise him and to thank him for his grace. Yes we as Christians are a big family, but God has enough love to go around and then some, just thinking about that alone humbles me.

Hunterpoet, is this what you had in mind? Matt 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Not sure if this is on the right wavelength but would like to share it anyway. I struggled for many years with the idea that I needed to think of myself as lower than other people (not a problem because I thought it anyway) and I would constantly bring myself down by saying that I was hopeless, stupid etc. I was reading the bible one day and had one of those lovely revelations, the kind where verses jump off the page in front of you. It was simply the phrase "Love your neighbour as you love yourself". The idea that I was "allowed" to love myself transformed my life in many ways. God bless.

I have a young adult son living with me who has been looking for work for over two years having filled out over 100 applications. I also pray that God leads him to a job. Family members give us a hard time about him not working as if he's not even trying. I have said that if God wanted him to have one of those jobs he would have made it happen.

Help - I just started having the same problem with my 10-year old cats. They always slept in the living room. I just returned from a week vacation on Saturday and for the past three nights one has begun meowing loudly at 12:00-1:00 AM outside our bedroom doors and will continue for over an hour disturbing both my son and myself. When I open the door they'll both come in and cuddle up with me for a few hours, but after awhile start walking around, jumping on dressers, etc. I don't want to make a habit of this. Any suggestions?

No woman has the right to be beaten either. That's a valid reason for divorce.

About every six weeks our church has an event where a couple loud bands come to "entertain" the youth, or anyone else who can stand it. Neither my son or myself like this music, which is typically heavy metal or rap, and certainly wouldn't pay to go. Yet, each time other members, youth and adults alike, will keep bugging us. My son just told one lady "I'll think about it" and she said emphatically "You're going!" The youth also puts on a meal about every six weeks. The food is OK, but overpriced. We can get the same thing cheaper in a restaurant or make it ourselves for considerably less. Again, people urge us to buy tickets. We have to budget our money. How can we get people to leave us alone?

I'm the original poster and happy to say we found a new church home a year and a half ago that we love. I was growing increasingly unhappy and frustrated with things that went on at the old church and it felt like more of a drag to go every Sunday. Now I look forward to church again and my walk with Christ has grown stronger.

A man moved in down the street from my church and began attending the singles events I go to. He is obviously interested in me but I have NOOO interest in him. He will take a seat by me or approach me in between his frequent smoke breaks....YUCK....and try to make conversation. How can I politely tell him to back off?

We had another event this weekend and he came and sat at my table. I turned slightly away from him to converse with women on the other side of me. Another woman came and sat by him and he asked all about her, where she lived, where she worked, etc. I would never give a strange man all that information but whatever.... Anyway, I think he got the hint that I'm not interested.

If I may elaborate, he hasn't worked in years and doesn't drive. Whoever he latches onto will be expected to do the driving and he'd probably gobble up the home cooked meals (like the one poster).

Yes, turned off by him.

All my sisters are married with kids and grandchildren of their own and even if they were single they wouldn't want a smoker either. MOST non smokers don't want smokers so I doubt the other single women would be interested in him either....especially given how unattractive he is. He already DID ask me to go to church with him the next day...obviously trying to get his foot in the door...so yes, he intended to ask me out.

I guess I'd have to be blunt and tell him there's no chemistry between us, i.e. "I don't find you attractive". But he's not going to quit smoking. He can't go an hour without sucking down that smoke...and he stinks from it!

I don't know of any. He's the only one that keeps going outside to smoke every half hour.

Keep in mind I want to appear available...and pleasant...to the other men around. He did ask me to attend the next church service with him (last Sun) but I told him I attend with my son.

Taking another seat really isn't an option. At these events there are 8 chairs at a table and I'm eating and chatting with other ladies. I can't just pick up my plate and walk away from everyone. Maybe I should tell him I don't date smokers?

Sorry, I'm not donating money to be annoyed...by listening to 2-3 hours of loud noise (I mean music) that we hate. The money is supposed to be for the kids to go to a week long camp in the summer that they go to every year.

That's how it is at my sister's church. They have breakfasts and dinners that are "free will offering". Some, with money, are quite generous.

It's upper middle class....although I live several miles away and I'm a single mom.

You just gave a good example. Right now they're promoting their spaghetti dinner (no meatballs) for $8.00 apiece! I refuse to pay $16.00 for two dinners when I can make it at home so much cheaper.

They're in the bulletin, they make an official announcement every week, and yet several members every week will personally urge us to attend. It's so annoying.