Will God answer "Unrighteous" Prayer

[EricH]

This confuses me the more is it the same thing in Hezekiah situation in what he prayed for I mean God wanted to take Hezekiah on home that was the Lord's will. The prophet Isaiah had already come to him on God's behalf and told him to set his house in order for he was going to die. Was Hezekiah's prayer wrong (unrighteous) as it was against what God wanted and still God granted his petition to him.

Or like in the case when David sinned with Batsheba and had a son it was God's will that the son was going to die because of his sins which was the Lord's will. Was David's prayer wrong (unrighteous) in this case even though God did not let his son live or was it a righteous (right) prayer on David's part.

OC

In terms of issues like this, I am not sure I will ever have an answer that completely accounts for all the questions I have. The place I have landed at this point is that God has revealed a certain poition of His will to the person praying. In Hezekiah's situation, God revealed to Hezekiah that it was His will that Heziekiah's life end. However, there seems to be a portion of His will that God has not revealed that takes priority over what He has revealed. When a certain set of circumstances occurs (in this case Hezekiah praying for more time), God responds according to His greater desire. The passage that seems to indicate this to me is:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:29 NASB

In other words, God has revealed certain aspects of His will to us, and we are to pray in accordance with those things. There will be times that God has not revealed His complete will to us, and will act on priorities within His will of which we are not aware.

A clearer example of this is that we know in scripture that it is part of God's revealed will that none perish and all come to repentance. We also know from experience that not all do come to repentance, and that even when we pray within this revealed will (God please redeem Jim), God does not always answer. This means to my way of thinking that there must be something more important in God's mind than Jim being saved. I just don't know what that is, because He (God) has not revealed it.

Jesus modeled this in Gethsamne. He knew it was God's will for Him to suffer and die, yet He still prayed to have the cup removed if possible. Jesus then aquiesced to God's eternal plan by adding, "not my will but yours"

[Openly Curious]

EricH

I can kinda see what you are saying but doesn't this make our freewills that we have powerful like in Phillipians 1:22 which is God's will and it would be whatever we desired if we so chose. I think it is the freewill part of us that I don't understand within this regards which are what we desire over what God's desire actually is for us how is it all balanced out to know if you are praying a miss or are right on target.

Openly Curious

[EricH]

I think it is the freewill part of us that I don't understand within this regards which are what we desire over what God's desire actually is for us how is it all balanced out to know if you are praying a miss or are right on target.

Openly Curious

I think it is exactly this issue that causes me to believe that Prayer should be more listening on our part than it is. We certainly bring our requests, but then we should spend much time listening for God's perspective so He can change ours. This is something I have been learning as of late

[Openly Curious]

I think it is the freewill part of us that I don't understand within this regards which are what we desire over what God's desire actually is for us how is it all balanced out to know if you are praying a miss or are right on target.

Openly Curious

I think it is exactly this issue that causes me to believe that Prayer should be more listening on our part than it is. We certainly bring our requests, but then we should spend much time listening for God's perspective so He can change ours. This is something I have been learning as of late

oc

this makes since but it is still confusing at the same time

thanks

oc

[Ovedya]

There's not such thing as an "unrighteous prayer." There are prayers that God will certainly answer and there are prayers that He will not.

Prayer is not, in and of itself, a way for believers to "get what they want." The point of prayer is much deeper than petition. It is much more profound than supplication. Prayer is a means for believers to gain more of Christ.

Certainly a believer can be angry with someone and say, "God, please do thus to him..." God will not answer that prayer. But what if that believer continues to pray? Eventuially in contacting God he may begin to forgive that person, and then his prayers will no longer be against that person, but for him, and for himself.

[Openly Curious]

There's not such thing as an "unrighteous prayer." There are prayers that God will certainly answer and there are prayers that He will not.

Prayer is not, in and of itself, a way for believers to "get what they want." The point of prayer is much deeper than petition. It is much more profound than supplication. Prayer is a means for believers to gain more of Christ.

Certainly a believer can be angry with someone and say, "God, please do thus to him..." God will not answer that prayer. But what if that believer continues to pray? Eventuially in contacting God he may begin to forgive that person, and then his prayers will no longer be against that person, but for him, and for himself.

oc

I just take it as an unrighteous prayer is a wrong one like being a miss. I take it that a righteous prayer would be a right prayer. I agree it is much more profound in order to "gain"

Openly Curious