I'm wondering about prayer...

[LilyPotter]

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.

Yeah, but actually, the thought of Jesus praying to God and also being God is baffling to me.

I've thought before that prayer is supposed to help us want what God's will is, but then I've also known people to say they prayed about this-or-that and then they did something that I don't think God would tell them to do. (I don't mean rob a bank; nothing like that, but say a person saying they should work full time instead of raising their baby. I don't think God wants people to have babies and then go get a job.) And then what of people who pray about something like terminal illness? Probably they want to get well, but even if they are unusual and they can really say they want whatever is God's will, even if it's death - is God's will death??? What I don't get is that if pain and suffering and death were not what God wanted for humankind, why is it as if his hands are tied? If Satan's plan is pain and suffering, sin and death, it seems absurd that God would have to bend to Satan's plan of having pain and suffering, sin and death if he actually wanted paradise. Why would this be? It's not enough to me to say that one day we'll have heaven and then there will be no more of this. Why did God have to devise the heaven plan in the first place? It makes it seem like God is compelled to work around Satan.

I don't know...I'm kind of depressed about the whole thing because I dont think the Christian way makes much sense.

[ladypeartree]

We have choices ...I would NOT want a God to "control" me and NOT give me the choice of if I want to love Him or not .

Love that is forced is not real, God allows satan to tempt us ..He also gives us the strength and grace to resist that temptation and if we do then we know how strong our love and our need for our Father really is.

Yes some will chose to ignor God and "do their own thing" ..that is CHOICE ..they chose to sin.

I believe the Amish community sends their young adults out into the world so that they may have the "experience" of the world ...they then have the choice of returning to the community and obeying the laws of the community which are very srtict. If they chose not to do so they are still loved but they have to accept the consequences of their choice and that included illness, addictions, lonliness, and all the other pitfall of belonging to "the world" instead of to a "enclosed " and safe community ......it doesnt mean that the community is compelled to "work around" the "outside world" it gives the children the choice about which "world" they want to live in

I pray that you can find the truth but if you want absolute "in your face " proof then it is not FAITH that you are seeking and no matter what "proof" you are given you will remain confused

praying for you

[LilyPotter]

We have choices ...I would NOT want a God to "control" me and NOT give me the choice of if I want to love Him or not .

Love that is forced is not real, God allows satan to tempt us ..He also gives us the strength and grace to resist that temptation and if we do then we know how strong our love and our need for our Father really is.

Yes some will chose to ignor God and "do their own thing" ..that is CHOICE ..they chose to sin.

I'm not saing I want God to just mind-control everybody and make it so that we roboticly obey him and spit out I LOVE YOU chants at hourly intervals. The thing is, why does it sound like the best God can do with pain, suffering and death is supposedly "work it for good"? Not all bad things happen to someone because of choices they've made; they could be totally innocent and get caught in a bullet spray on their way to church. If God loves us, and intervenes on our behalf, why wouldn't he in that case? If it's "part of his plan", why would THAT be? If he is God, why would any terrible thing happening to his children ever be part of his plan? The plan gets to be whatever he wants it to be! He Is GOD! If he has to work around Satan's evil distractions, then his power is subject to Satan's. If he doesn't have to work around Satan's evil distractions, but just chooses to allow Satan to harm us, than how can he be loving?

I pray that you can find the truth but if you want absolute "in your face " proof then it is not FAITH that you are seeking and no matter what "proof" you are given you will remain confused

Fine, but here's what I don't understand. If a Christian is plagued by something like this, what is their resolution? If you've wondered something like this yourself, what do you do? Do you just blow it off? Do you just keep praying, even though you have a sneakin suspicion that it doesn't matter if you think you're talking to God or the wall or the crickets? Do you just blunder on, even when you think maybe this whole thing is a farce? Someone here said that "most Christians wonder this from time to time" - well what happens then? After they wonder it, are they just trying to push it from their mind? Or do they look behind the curtain and see what that little man is doing there?

[None]

If you've wondered something like this yourself, what do you do? Do you just blow it off? Do you just keep praying, even though you have a sneakin suspicion that it doesn't matter if you think you're talking to God or the wall or the crickets? Do you just blunder on, even when you think maybe this whole thing is a farce? Someone here said that "most Christians wonder this from time to time" - well what happens then? After they wonder it, are they just trying to push it from their mind? Or do they look behind the curtain and see what that little man is doing there?

First, God doesn't have any one set way of responding to us. That's the most important thing to remember.

Second. It's very frustrating at the beginning of the relationship, I know, believe me. To me, this is the most trialsome part of the Christian walk. If we can just get through this part, He does reveal Himself, but not the way this generation wishes He would. Why? I wish I had the answer to that as well. Often the way He talks to us is He'll put something on our hearts before it happens and when it happens, we understand the meaning of what was happening in our hearts(minds). Also, you'll find your Christian brethren are in agreement about an idea you've been struggling with and have come seeking confirmation over. God keeps his children together in this way, to help each other.

Lastly, if there is a sin you're holding onto and you still expect to be heard and answered by God, you'll be disappointed. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are to completely walk away from our former life of sin. Jesus said often, "Go and sin no more.". It is His grace that saves us but it is our choice of whether or not to walk in Him from that point on.

[Guest]

"And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them."

Matthew 21:44-45

"How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts."

Jude 1:18

Or do they look behind the curtain and see what that little man is doing there?

No Curtain - The Lord Jesus

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

No Curtain - The Lord Jesus

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.

Luke 23:46-47

No Curtain - The Lord Jesus

He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

Luke 24:6-7

No Curtain - The Lord Jesus

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:9-10

See Jesus - Be Blessed

For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God

Romans 14:11

Love, Joe

[Sconzy]

Why ask your Dad or mum for something? Or should I say why do you talk to them?

[Openly Curious]

Hello Lilypotter,

I think that right in the midst of all your confusion and strife within your heart going on towards God that you have a simple choice to make. That choice being to yield your heart to the Lordship of Christ or not to yield and surrender your life to His Lordship. One thing remains true in all of your present confusion of heart and mind the fact remains that you know inside of your heart that God is God and He is real and the Creator of this world in which you can see and visibly touch and hear the sounds of His creation all around you and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

With that simple faith alone that you have you can say yes to Christ right now and begin to walk and talk with the Lord as you learn more about God in His word and the truth you seek will be revealed or made known to you. We pray and ask God in faith to meet our needs because God will not violate our own wills. So when we ask Him in faith and make known our request to Him our Heavenly Father knows we are trusting in Him to answer our prayers and not in ourselves but trusting in His Soverienty as we don't understand everything that goes on in this world but we know that He does and their is comfort in knowing that.

Just give your heart to the Lord today in faith and ask Him to change you and just see what He will do.

loving blessing to you

OC