by Elsewhere 40 Replies latest jw friends
The trouble with hanging a successful outcome on the back of a prayer is that if you dont get a successful outcome the logical explanation is that you werent praying hard enough.
I used to pray all the time to get a bible study and place more magazines ( things I thought were approved topics for prayer). When nothing happened I thougt it was beacause I was displeasing god somehow. The whole thing was totally soul destroying.
ha katie...i had this discussion recently about the power of prayer..and i was reminded that you are supposed to work along with your prayers
so i said well then why pray..why not just do the work and forget the prayer
..recently i read one of those thoughts for the day in the local newspaper..it quoted the psalm...throw your burden on the lord and he will sustain you...the comment after was that when you pray god will not always take away the problem but will help you to cope with it...which made sense and is pretty safe practical advice...i was discussing it with my parents who saw this as an indication that i was beginning to reason correctly again..until i said...well i have a question..whoever wrote this is not a jw...so how does he know
good reasoning tij.
BTW, ive been on a school residential for a few days, so I havent had time to listen to your songs. I will get back to you soon, thanks for sending them.
aha i wondered where you had been...not on account of the songs but cause i was missing your wit here...im going to get dressed and go shopping now
As already pointed out, we don't hear many testimonials about folks dying who had others praying for them. Then again, what can the dead say?
And in other news, bears shit in the forest.
But if a bear shits and no-one hears the plop drop has it really shat? If there is no shoe to give validity to the existence of the shit does it really exist?
What interesting reading. However for my own self I can tell you that on several occasions God has heard and answered my prayers even during illnesses..
I know to some of you it may seem strange, but I can attest to the fact God has heard and helped me out in so pretty interesting ways.
When my father died, I was awoken out of a very deep sleep at 2 am and for no reason what so ever was I inclined to see how my father was doing in the middle of the night while in the hospital. I would visit him each day and spend time with him for hours. But for some strange reason I felt this impending pusihng feeling like I was being compelled by some intense source to call the hospital on that hour of September 3, 1995, As I dialed the hospital I kept thinking to myself why am I calling at this crazy hour. But when the nurse answered and I asked her to please tell me how my dad was she was crying and said these exact words. " I was praying and praying to God for someone in your family to call here. As I must inform you that your father just passed away at 1:55 am. and all of us here were searching for a phone number to contact your mom about your fathers passing and we couldn't find it anywhere on his chart. I can't believe you just called." Nor could I for that matter, but now I knew why. And do you know that my dads chart had the phone number on it at the top to contact my sisters how as that is where my mom was staying. They couldn't believe it .
Well I was of course quite shocked and at the sametime I wondered as we were talking that how is it I called about my father. AS I said , at no time during the periond my dad was ill in the hospital was I compelled to call.
Now I realised that even though this nurse was not a Jehovah's witness , Jehovah God heard her prayers and it hit me for the first time that God answers the prayers of people who are not JWs and It truly bothered me for a very long time.
Today I know it was anglelic intervention that roused me from that very deep sleep because God was answering this nurses prayer. And there is no one on the face of this earth than can tell me any different. Now I knew for a certainty that God listened to this imploring prayer. And as JW have taught and still teach that God doesn't here the prayers of none JWs/
You can't imagine how this made me feel as I began pleading with God to hear my prayers for a way to leave the organization, and I know that He heard my prayers and helped me get out of the WTS. It was the finger of God and knowing that he heard prayers on non witnesses even convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is indeed listening to my prayers as a non witness.
I have several stories Icould share in this respect and the strange thing is that it also once again involved me and my father.
Orangefatcat.
Today I know it was anglelic intervention that roused me from that very deep sleep because God was answering this nurses prayer.
I've had several similar experiences, Orange . My grandson Mickey loves your avatar.
I believe that everything affects everything. Good vibes create good vibes and vice versa. Universally. A smile and a greeting to a stranger at the local supermarket is transformed many times over and who knows how far and wide that smile and greeting goes?
Prayers are energy, albeit bioenergy. It is not a stretch to say that bioenergy flows out into the world as other energy does.
The study you mentioned is not the last word on this subject. Everything we do affects others in ways we have yet to understand. We are all connected in some way that I believe, but cannot explain.
And I'm supposed to be the logical guy! This is truely a magical subject and worthy of much more observation.
Farkel
