Prayer does it work for you?

haujobbz

Hello everyone more questions as usual, do you think praying ever helped you or was it just like talking to the air, its funny because when i was i jw i did pray a lot and convinced myself it worked,but now i think about it, did it help me or was it what i wanted to believe.I mean i always seemed to say to myself b4 yeh praying really helps me in my life and when things went right 4 me like maybe being regular as a preacher,at meetings,and doing whats was right, i felt my prayers were answered but i think these things happened because i wanted them to be that way not because of praying you know like the placebo effect.You see just because you pray 4 something and coincidently it happens does it mean your prayers worked.

ISP

Cornwall, Ont., couple fights eviction after complaints of their loud praying

Canadian Press
Friday, July 26, 2002
ADVERTISEMENT
CORNWALL, Ont. (CP) - Two roommates facing eviction for allegedly praying too loudly in their apartment are trying to convince Ontario's rental-dispute agency to allow them to stay put.
Born-again Christians Teresa Tafawa and Derrick Mitchell, and the building's management are now waiting for a verdict after the case went before the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal following repeated complaints by other tenants. "They don't listen to any other authority, except perhaps the authority of God," the building's property manager Richard Pfinder said at the hearing. But Tafawa and Mitchell, who have lived at the apartment for six years, defended their praying and said they are only spreading the word of God.
"The only evidence we have is with the Lord our God," Tafawa said, wearing a shirt bearing the message Glory To God.
"When we go out to praise the Lord, we don't do it viciously. It's just to praise the Lord," she said.
Tenant Tabitha Higham said she was afraid of the couple after meeting them in building's laundry room last fall.
"They told me they were prophets. I was really scared," she said. "At first I thought it was kind of funny, but I haven't gone to the laundry room since."
Tafawa and Mitchell received the eviction notice in early May. The notice said their praying was excessively loud and disruptive to other tenants.
Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press

But you should keep it down! ISP

libra_spirit

There is a model of prayer in almost every religion, I do believe in it's power having tried many different ways of doing it. The idea that thier is a connection between our mind and the "Light" or our "Guiding Spirit" and that no one can step between us and God is a very powerful belief. The problem comes in how you try to define this connection because as soon as you put limits on it, it looses it's power. The Dubs would have us believe that God will only provide for us if we are in good standing with them and asking for help with the preaching work. They have set too many limits on you to ever have it become a practice that works for you. Eckankar gave me one of my most spiritual expierences with the simple act of sitting silent and sending the intent of Love to God, or chanting Hu while sending the same intent. Witchcraft allows you to expierement with becomming cause, or spell casting, this is neither good nor evil but demonstraights how it is possible to effect events by placing your "intent" into the spiritual realm. I have found this kind of thing is most effective when dealing with human relationships, basically, you get what you ask for, so learn from your mistakes "what" to ask for, Spirit will provide it. Sincerely turning to whatever is your personal version of God or sacredness and asking for a relationship, and adding the emotional yearning for it, then release it to the universe to bring it in to you, does work. Never try to limit Spirit too narrowly, by stating "who" it will bring in though, or limit it to exactly what you think you want. Give Spirit some room to work and things happen more quickly. When you become specifically focused on any one person or thing then you are trying to control others and remove thier freedom of choice, and this is what I call black magic. I have no ability to prove this to you it is only your own expierence that will convince your mind to accept it as possible. Belief that you are worthy of recieving it is also an obstical, but the universe will respond if you give it a chance to, simply because of the underlying Love that is the constant in every system of prayer.

If nothing else prayer allows you to at least see where you are at. As you talk to your God and dump your problems on him, and ask for his Unconditional Love to help you grow and solve these problems, it greatly helps you to understand your problems and deal with them in a more intellegent and Loving way. Connecting with your "inner guidance" can become a 2way communication if you learn to listen and be open to it. This is truly a psychic sensitivity. If you cannot feel the presence of Spirit, then you may not be connecting with it. It is something you must choose to seek for a time. The deeper your meditation and the more you bring in the Light of Spirit, the faster the communication and the "knowing" will come to you. Prolonged meditation or prayer about an issue in your life, with the invitation to your Higher Spirit to help you will produce a clarity of mind and focus that can make changes, particularly with other people and relationships.

Prayer is an expierement in excersising the connection between mind and God or the Spiritual Universe. It is either real or it is not. The power is in the "intent" and the proof is in the "expierence". Self worth is essential, and Love is the current that will energize and bring life into it. You can connect to almost anyone psychicly simply by sending them Unconditional Love. The connection of Love you have with family often brings you information this way, even to the point of knowing when they are thinking about you, or when they are in pain. So it stands to reason that the "intent" and the "emotion" of your prayers will effect those around you. People can feel if you intend them harm, or if you intend them Love. They do not know how they know but they do feel it.

Good luck with your endeavor.

Dave L

Edited by - libra_spirit on 27 July 2002 20:7:4

onacruse

I pray because it makes me feel good and, along with Dave, believe that there is an essential spiritual connection between all sentient beings that is fostered by focusing on that dimension of human existence. The presence or absence of evident tangible results is, for me, irrelevant. It is a matter of faith that I would neither impress upon others nor feel compelled to offer apologetics for myself.

Craig

SYN

As a certain very smart Computer Science teacher (and hardline Athiest) once told me:

Prayer is like a one-way TCP connection - it never works!

scumrat

Hasn't worked yet. The Watchtower is still standing. However I will continue to work in harmony with my prayers.

DanTheMan

I remember sitting in front of 3 elders (knowhutimean) and one of the questions they asked was "why didn't you pray before..."

I told them that I couldn't pray, that all my prayers ever consisted of was, "Sorry I fall so short...sorry I don't go out in field service more often...sorry I don't do as much personal study as I could...sorry I don't always display exemplary Christian behavior when I'm around worldlies...sorry I have doubts about this religious organization that that claims to represent you..."

I don't pray a whole lot now, but when I do the prayers are much more meaningful. I pray for my own inner peace and I pray that I can be a blessing to the people in my life.

DakotaRed

I believe there is power in prayer. I pray, but probably not often enough. Whether is is strictly coincidence or an answer from an Almighty, I have no idea, but I can't see any reason it couldn't be an answer. Of course, many times it seems the answer is no, I just don't want to hear that.

Other times, although it could be chalked up to concidence, my prayers have been answered in mighty ways. For example, in 1974, while stationed at Ft. Bragg NC, I brought the family out here to Washington for Christmas with the in-laws. Prior, I had gotten myself buried deep in debt over purchases of material things. I was so deeply indebted, I sometimes did not have enough to buy food. Her family helped with the plane tickets, or else we couldn't have gone. While we were gone, our house was burglarized. They stole just about every material thing I was deep in debt for, plus my stereo equiptment I had purchased in Germany. We had renters insurance and when we filed the claim, I actually ended up making a profit from it. They paid off at stateside value on my stereo equiptment, almost twice what I paid for it in Germany. Everything was paid off and enough left over to purchase a more reliable car. I learned a lesson there. Not one thing stolen was necessary to live and feed my family.

I've always looked upon that experience as a teaching lesson and answer to my prayers. Yes, it could also be a coincidence, but what harm is there in believing in prayer? So long as you don't just sit on your butt and rely on prayer to solve your problems, I see nothing wrong with asking for help in things that really matter.

Lately, even doctors have found that praying for the extremely ill also helps them. Be it Divine intervention or just positive vibes, it has helped many by giving them more reason to recover. The mind can be a powerful tool, when used properly.

Lew W

Watchtower Decruit

bitter mango

i've never prayed and i never will. there is absolutly nothing god can provide me that i can't find on my own.

hillary_step

i've never prayed and i never will. there is absolutly nothing god can provide me that i can't find on my own.

I only pray that you are right.

HS

Prayer does it work for you?

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