Featured Does prayer have power?

Tom Butler, sorry if I came across the wrong way. I have tendancy to do that sometimes though it is effective for some people. I just know how wrapped up I got in such discussions for several years, and I know others that have done the same.

I will try to do the introduction soon.

 

Great. I look forward to getting to know you better.

I have to be careful in reacting to what I consider pushing my "hot-button." I know that folks don't mean it the way I take it.

For instance, my antennae start quivering when someone says something like, "well, if we'd spend more time doing this instead of doing that, we'd please God more, we'd be more spiritual (or something like that)."

The implication is this: "If you'd spend more doing doing all these spiritual things----as I'm doing and you're not--you'd be a better Christian." See what I mean.

And I think their hearts are in the right place. They really do want to make God's work a high priority in their lives. But it comes across, to me at least, as a big smug.

And maybe I'm coming across as a bit defensive, making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

Earlier in my adult Christian life, I was almost obsessed with apologetics and did MUCH more studying and discussion with people like me than lost people or less learned Christians who were really seeking answers. I just don't want a lot of people to make the same mistake as me. It is difficult to read motives and demeanor on message boards for sure.

 

We Agree, and Welcome, TOO!!!

I am forever saying this same thing. I don't have the answers, and I won't try to make it look like I do. In fact, no one person has the precise answer to any questions posted on the board, yet they try to act like they do. As for me, and now you, I choose to wait and discuss these theological issues with Him when I join Him in glory.

And, like with Tom.....WELCOME!!!! :thumbs:

 

Wow...comparing prayer to a mere cell phone!

At least there are no dropped calls and you can never run out of minutes...

You set up a false dichotomy. You are putting prayer up against God, when in fact God is the one who instituted prayer and tells us there is power in prayer.

I have yet to hear anybody outside of the WoF heretics say prayer should be viewed as divine apart from God.

 

There was a story about a man requesting prayer for a struggling family, and that they needed food. He had asked the church to pray for God to help feed them. After church, one of the members saw this person who had requested the prayer, packing two sacks of groceries, one under each arm. When asked what was he doing , he stated, "I'm putting some legs under my prayer." I think that we, at times, ask God to do something, when in fact, we can roll up our sleeves, and help. I am a firm believer in prayer, but can can "assist" them way more than we may ever know.

For instance, you see a car rolled over, and someone trapped inside. You can hit you knees and call out to God to help him/her. Or, you can run over and do what you can to get them out. Sure, you should ask God to help you and them as you are helping them, but too many times, we sit back, and want God to do things that we can do, such as feeding hungry people.

 

Well, prayer is more about us submitting to His will, and not ours. When something is decreed by God(such as the death of a loved one), no amount of prayer will change that. We must pray to Him according to His will be done, and not ours.

 

I can agree with this.

 

We pray because Jesus told us to pray. And he told us to ask for what we want.

Remember his encounter with blind Bartimaus? Those with him operated under the assumption was the result of sin, and asked Jesus what he'd done. You'll remember that Jesus said Bart was blind for that moment (in which he would display his power in him). So Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to heal Bart, and this had been part of the Father's plan from eternity.

Yet.....

He made him ask. "What do you want? Jesus inquired, already knowing the answer.

Bart, of course, answered, "I want my sight."

The request was not for Jesus' benefit. It was for Bart's.

So, prayer is not for God's benefit. It's for ours. It is an act of placing ourselves in total dependence on the Lord and acknowledging that he has the power to grant it.

In other words, prayer does not change God. It changes us.

 

Some prayers are powerful and some reach no more than ceiling height.

"The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."