the Power of Prayer? (page 4)

LittleToe

Its the most cruel catch 22 ever invented. And guess what? It was invented by GOD!

Ermm, no, it was invented by men with a track record of failure...

Think about it

tijkmo

remember when we used to pray for a safe journey whenever we were embarking on some trip regardless of whether it was for a spiritual reason or not.

well probably one of the last times i prayed i was on holiday (alone and miserable)...still at the time df-ed and still praying for reinstatement (and being ignored)

well on the morning of my return flight i automatically prayed for a safe journey home..when i started thinking..i dont wanna safe journey home...i dont wanna go home...i dont wanna go anywhere...i just wanna die

so i prayed for the plane to crash and put me out of my misery

guess what...that prayer got ignored too

tijkmo

bebu

When people talk about the power of prayer, it usually refers to for creating desired results. That element of desire is true, but if the extent of prayer is a shopping list or a 911-call, then prayer is not much worth at all.

I feel like prayer becomes more of a place where I find comfort before the answer even comes at all. It gives me occasion to connect with God with my trial or my joy. Sure, God knows it all already, it's just that I've not really committed the situation yet; it's a part of my walk. And if I commit a situation to God, then the outcome is ultimately His business, and I trust that the eventual result will be good--even if the short term results go haywire. "Make your requests known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

I also know what it feels like to be in God's presence or to have God's peace. Totally different experience from talking to the ceiling.

bebu

Steve Lowry

Ok, I'm gonna share my heart with y'all. I believe in God. I have seen Him work in my life many times. When I asked God into my life in 1984 (BTW, I left the Watchtower in 1979), I was 'brought' to a little church. There, I made great friends and sometimes my friends would get a little jealous over some of the things I would tell them that I was seeing God do in my new found life. Some of those things were incredible and hard to believe even by my new Christian friends. Then after a few years, my true narcissistic nature came back out and I had very little to do with God or church. This has gone on for most of the time, even up until now. Sure, I have had crises' over the past twenty years or so, like when my little girl was born thirteen weeks premature and weighed about a pound and a half. I got real 'spiritual' then, and prayed daily (even hourly), but in time I was back to my old self again. There have been other times of crisis where again I would cry out to God for help. All my crises’ have resolved as if there were a hand greater than mine directing those events. The problem for me, my dilemma, is that when my prayers are answered, it disturbs me that other’s are not. For instance, my little girl survived her ordeal and is now a very healthy ten year old. But what about those parents in the same place that I was in when she was born, who didn’t have their prayers answered? This challenges my faith. It’s kinda like the guy who is the soul survivor of a plane crash who gives God credit for saving him. And I think he should give God credit. Who am I to say that God didn’t save him? But it’s also kind of an insult to all of those who perished on the crash. How can I believe that God will answer my prayers for today at work with a given known struggle I have to face, and then when I turn on the news later I see where a dozen school children were killed while a school bus was crossing the railroad tracks? The apparent iniquity of this makes me feel guilty for thinking God helped me today with a problem at work, but didn’t help a bus driver see an oncoming train. Yet, that said, I feel again like the guy who survived the plane crash. I can look back on the day and ‘see’ His hand, and I thank Him for His help. I can’t explain it, but I know it to be true. There’s a Greek expression that says something like; it’s when two truths won’t reconcile.

There’s no God? Prayer is only talking to yourself? This can’t be true. I will never concede to this belief. I will never make the decision that God doesn’t exist in my mind. It would be like a son shunning his father. I can’t do it. Am I a fool? I hope not. But I don’t think so. When I look at my body and I see how wonderfully it is made, I know there is a God, a Creator. Maybe I’m weak and need God to make it through life? Guilty. But it’s more than that for me. I never knew what it was like to love a child until my little girl was born. I love her unconditionally! I’m sure this is how my Father feels toward me. I can’t make sense out of the iniquities that see going on around me. All I know is God is real and He loves me. He has always provided me all my needs. He exists, and I will continue to speak with Him in prayer for the rest of my life.

serendipity

Well stated Steve. These are my thoughts exactly.

Terry

Erm... no, that was not what I meant. The "split" I mentioned was intra-subjective: being simultaneously the subject of objective ;knowledge (I know something) and the subject of;one's;act of knowing (I know that I know).
As far as objective knowledge is concerned, I agree with you.

Self-referencing leads to paradox!

thecarpenter

I pray everyday, several times a day. I do believe in God and I do believe he hears.
He may not answer my prayer but that doesn't stop me from praying.
That doesn't mean I don't take control of my life, I feel you do everything you reasonable can do (proactiviness) and then let God handle the rest.

sass_my_frass

I've long thought of prayer as a kind of affirmation - say something often enough and it will happen because you're angling for it. (Unless it's something you can't control, like guessing lottery numbers, or curing somebody's illness).

Still, ask to be given the strength often enough, and you'll find the strength.

Broken Hearted

"The answer to your prayer is equal to two things: 1.What you can do for yourself 2.The natural consequence of ordinary events."

Then explain the fact that you have 4 hungry children at home with not a dime in your pocke, and you get angry, and YELL ( and yes sometimes in my praying I yell) GOD are you reallly there, do you hear me, how can YOU knowing all allow this to happen? Then i do pray God I need a miracle, I ask this of you through Christ Jesus or son. and when I get home in the mail box was a card from a person I have never met in person but knows of me and she sent a card saying she felt led of the lord to send me encouragment and a 100.00. I had not told anyone that I had needed money to feed my kids.

Another Example, is my daughter that is waiting for the double lung transplant, I have many people around the world praying for my daughter, At first I was too angry to pray and acutally scared to death if I prayed for her to be okay then she would die. My ex and I had just seperated 5 months before she was diagnosed and I was feeling guilty for asking him for a divorce and having being the one that took the step and move out. I do pray for my daughter now, but the prayer I pray is not for her to be healed, the prayer I pray is that God's Will be done in her life and the rest of the family. I pray for the doctors that are giving her many hours of care and studying her case. A lot of times when I pray I pray speaking in tongues ( Yes I belive in this) I belive that praying through the Holy Spirt helps to get our selfish thoughts out of the way. The doctors say my daughter is a walking Miracle, she should not have lived through the night the day she was put in the hospital July 31, 2002. She was in the hospital for 10 months, During that time I one day I cried out to God and said GOD where is the miralce and God revealed to me that The miracle was that she was ALIVE, she was not on a respirator, and she did not need to carry around an oxygen tank. When the doctors were able to get her on the right medications and get her stable she got out and continues to live a pretty normal life ( well one better than being confined in a hospital) Sure there are limiations to what she can do now however she is living.

Can i answer the question why other parents have lost their children and they prayed too NO, can I say that my daughter will live to be my age? NO reality is that she won't according the information we are getting from the doctors, because you see Lung transplant is not a cure for her disease just a prolongment of her life and the predicted length docs give is a 1 to 5 year probablity.

Prayer is very real to me, As is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If this is what gets me and my children through life daily then so be it. Not pushing my beliefs on anyone just know that this is what I feel right with, and that is the important key here to me.

yucca

I moved from the east coast to the west coast in 1956. I had been close to my grandmother back east and missed her very much. One night I had this dream that grandma visited me . She seemed very weak. So the next day I called back east and yes Grandma was in the hospital. My grandma died and I couldnt go to funeral because of health problems I had. This was in 1960 Now I was married to a very cheap man and I could only order the cheapest flowers(just one of the reasons I am divorced) anyway I didnt even ask God I said I wished I could send Grandma special flowers . Later my family told me they buried my grandmother with the blanket of red roses I had sent

the Power of Prayer?

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