I'm wondering about prayer...

[undone]

How can we love and adore someone when they are just an idea?

I don't mean to pick apart little bits of your words, but I saw this and felt this was an important question.

Is God a real and living entity to you? Or is He more of an obscure concept you'd like to think exists but aren't really sure?

As far as prayer goes, we do so because He asks us to in His word. We hear from Him through reading His word and meditating on it. I know I've asked things that are relative to my relationship with him and many times have been surprised by the revelation I receive when reading a passage of scripture that didn't make as much sense to me before. All the sudden it's as though my eyes were opened and I'm really reading it for the first time. I also receive assurances while meditating.

Do I pray for great Alfredo sauce? No, not really. It isn't something that is important to growing my relationship with Him or necessarily affect my future path that I trust He has me pointed on. Would I pray for my kids to get well if they are sick. Yes, and I have. I have prayed for other answers and recieved some amazing results. There was one particular instance where I prayed for an answer to something (for the sake of brevity I'll not go into the details) and things happened that were way out of the ordinary to let me know what the answer was.

I also struggle at times to feel that I'm of any significance in the grand scheme of His plans. Why try to make a difference with anything because He's already got it planned out? But I know I still have to do my part. He created me for a purpose.

The bible tells us that satan is the master of confusion. No one benefits more from our confusion than him. I have to tell myself that when I begin to feel confused and I let that confusion stand between me and God, that there's only one person who that can benefit and not terribly interested in benefiting him any.

[LilyPotter]

Is God a real and living entity to you? Or is He more of an obscure concept you'd like to think exists but aren't really sure?

I do believe that God exists; I don't doubt that there is a God. But I can't see him, hear him, touch him or even know what he looks like. I don't know if I should be thinking of a white light, a gigantic person sitting in a chair, the pictures of Jesus I've seen which may not even be what Jesus looked like. Even when you say "living" entity - I don't know how you mean "living" because that sounds like a person and I don't think God is a person, like I don't think he has arms and legs and hair and a face.

I am not sure if I can explain in simple terms ( as it is past midnight here and I am getting tired ) but ..as a mum I KNOW my children would like a slice of cake / bag of sweets /to do something but I do not just give them to them I wait until I am asked and even then they do not always get what they ask for ...I have good reasons for not giving them everything they ask for when they ask for it but it is not always possible to explain those reasons to my children ...a lot depends on their age and the reason I am withholding the "treat" .If I do things that they may learn or by waiting have a greater treat ( like saving the cake for when their friends come to visit ) how much more should we trust our loving heavenly father to do what is right for us even if we do not always see the reasons at the time

But if your child was sick and you had the power to make them well, you would. A lot of prayers that people ask God for are not things that would just be a "treat", yk? They are things that really matter and if you were having all the power, you would not withhold those things from your child. Why would it ever be "better" for someone to die a slow, agonizing and horrible death, see? Even if some good things happened through the person going through that, if God has all the power, it was not necessary for that to be the way the good things happened.

Well, one good thing is that I googled "Does prayer change God's mind?" and I found out that very smart, scholarly people who know "everything" have debated this, so at least it's not a stupid question like I originally thought it was.

[ladypeartree]

No question is silly

and would I stop my children from hurting if I could ...of cours but sometimes that too is not the right thing . Think of innoculations ...we give them to our children KNOWING that they are likely to be ill after them BUT they prevent a far worse illness that they may get otherwise. Yes it is a chance and sometimes it goes wrong but we do what we feel is best for them at the time . God knows things that we do not since He knows everything past /present/future so He does what is best for us even if we do not like it at the time ...we cannot see the whole picture we can only trust that God , as a loving father , can and does know best

[EricH]

Moved from the Welcome Forum to the General Discussion Forum

[LilyPotter]

It still seems to me that even with the example of the parent giving shots, this doesn't explain why bad things would be part of God's will. A parent does not know if her child might get polio and die or be crippled. She hedges her bets by accepting her child will have temporary pain because if he does get polio later, he can't be cured and may die. But this cannot be true for God. He doesn't have to choose something painful to hedge his bets against an unknown future. If a parent had the ability to instantly heal their child of polio, they wouldn't choose a shot, because it would be causing pain and risking a bad side-effect for no reason.

AND ALSO it still causes me to wonder why pray to stave off/avoid/escape bad situations if you already believe that whatever God does, it is always best. Isn't that like saying God, I know you think it is good for me to have a chronic disease, but I disagree and I don't like it, so change the plan?

And one more thing. If Satan causes confusion, why does God leave all these "mysteries"? It seems like God causes the confusion cuz he could just clear it all up, so why doesn't he?

[Guest]

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23

this doesn't explain why bad things would be part of God's will

Sin Is Death

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

Romans 6:23

God Is Love

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

No More Pain

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Revelation 21:4-4

Love, Joe

[ladypeartree]

I dont think anyone can answer you to your satisfaction because in the end we are acting in FAITH but for myself I have learned to trust God and my faith has been strengthend in times of adversity and pain far more than in times of plenty and even during times of joy

[Guest]

I don't think anyone can answer you to your satisfaction because in the end we are acting in FAITH but for myself I have learned to trust God and my faith has been strengthened in times of adversity and pain far more than in times of plenty and even during times of joy

Closer And Closer To Thee Oh Lord!

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Psalms 62:5-8

[FighterforJC]

Hi. I think I'm a Christian, well I think mostly, but I don't know the answer to this: Why pray for something? I thought we were supposed to want God's will, but then if we are asking for something also then that is wanting our own will, I think. Also, God would already know what we would rather have happen and sometimes it's obvious, like I don't want my mom to die of cancer (of course) or if I want to get a better job. So, why tell God what I want when he already know and if he already has a "best" plan, even if it doesn't look like the best plan to me? Plus if something is hopeless for a long time, would you still pray about it or figure that God isn't going to do that thing? I'm so confused about this and I don't know if I can be a Christian if I can't see the point, that is, if God already has a plan about everything, then why interact with him?

Lily

Here's the thing. Does our prayer move the hand of God, or is prayer supposed to help us get tuned in with God's will? Some verses suggest that it is possible to move the hand of God through our pleading, but the bottom line is that God does His will, whether we approve of it or not, whether we agree with it or not. So why pray? Jesus prayed, and Jesus was fully God Himself. Prayer is simply communicating with God. He desires fellowship with His creation. All I know is that we are instructed to pray, and there are no guarantees. So the whole point is the privelage of being able to directly talk to God.

[Guest]

So the whole point is the privelage of being able to directly talk to God.