Prayer

[B-A-C]

I think if I asked who believes in the power of prayer, everyone would raise their hands. But what does "the power of prayer" mean to you?

John 14:12; "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

Jesus did some pretty amazing things, he made the lame walk, the blind see, he raised the dead, and he changed people's hearts. I think he can still do those things today if we ask him.

Jas 4:2; You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
...and yet there are some conditions...
Jas 4:3; You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

The Bible says we sometimes don't even know how to pray, but even then the Holy Spirit does intercession for us.
Rom 8:26; In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

Charismatic Christians believe this means you should pray in tongues, others believe it isn't us who do the "groanings" but the Holy Spirit. Either way, the Holy Spirit helps us pray.

Now some people believe (this could turn into a free-will Calvinist debate, I hope to stay away from that here) that we shouldn't really ask for things on our own behest. But that we should only pray that God's will be done.
(i.e. Matt 6:10 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. )

Of course we should pray or God's will to be done. I'm not saying otherwise. But isn't OK for us to ask for things on our own?

Matt 18:19; "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
John 14:14; "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
1 Jn 5:14; This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 Jn 5:15; And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

What an amazing promise. I wonder how many of us really take advantage of it?

Does God really listen to our prayers? I believe he does, in fact he loves to hear from us. What can you do in this life that has more power than prayer? Name one thing.
And yet, how often do we really do it? Do you really spend time with the Lord? Do you seek his presence daily? Or is it just 5 or 10 minutes here and there when you need something?

I believe sometimes things don't happen because God wants to know how bad we really want it. We need to be persistent.
Luke 11:7; and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'
Luke 11:8; "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

I've also heard it preached, prayers are like drops of water in a bucket that is balanced on top of a small stone. Every time you pray a few drops of water go into the bucket.
When many people pray together, a LOT of drops go into the bucket. You never know which prayer will fill up the bucket and cause it to pour the blessings out.

Lets make an effort this week to really spend some time in fellowship with him. Really tell him your heart. Your hurts, disappointments, your needs and wants. Yes, he already knows what you need,
but does that mean you shouldn't ask? Tell him you love Him, tell him you're sorry for sins. You might be amazed at the change this will make in your life.
Matt 6:8; "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Luke 11:13; "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

You know, I have wondered sometimes.. does Satan care if we study the Bible? I don't think so, at least not very much.
There are many people who know the Bible, but what are they doing about it?
On the other hand, does Satan care if we pray? It's amazing how many distractions come up when I try to pray sometimes. Is the power in the studying, or in the prayer?

 

[james1523]

This is what I believe about prayer.

Prayer is a combined effort. It involves both us and God.

I never think of prayer having power in and of itself because I know only God is the real power.

Prayer itself has no power, it is the way for God's power to be released and His will to be done on Earth, as in Heaven.

God's will is already predetermined and our prayers are necessary to release God's will on the Earth. (see the Lord's prayer).

God hears us according to His will, not ours 1 John 5:14. We can pray for things of our own will, but God may not hear them.

God will answer all of our prayers, and we have confidence that He will, if we are praying His will.

The worldly prayers, the prayers of the world, are prayers without a known outcome, because they are not sure they are praying the will of God or not.

It is often said God has 3 answers to prayer: yes, no, or wait. But this is obviously for someone who doesn't know God. Perhaps a person who believes God exists but doesn't know Him personally. They make a request to God but they are unsure of the answer. They are unsure of the answer because they do not know His will, and they do not know His will because they do not know Him.

For those who know God, they know His will, then the outcome of their prayer is certain, it is always yes, or "yes but not yet".

Sometimes we may think we are praying out of our own will but actually God is the one who gave us the will, desire and heart to pray for that thing (Phil 2:13).
To pray God's will doesn't have to be a grand affair, or to do with great spiritual matters or filled with theological jargon or scriptures.
God's will can be the simple request that He has put on your heart, and it could be something very minor and practical, such as praying to find a parking space.
The definition of God's will can be very broad, for example we know it is His will to heal, and His will to save. So praying for someone's healing or salvation is always in His (general) will. But then God has to answer it according to His (specific) will.

The life of a Christian is the life of union between man and God. So you may be praying for God's will without even realizing it. When your heart is conformed to His, your will and His will should be the same.

Our prayers cannot change God's will but prayer changes our will to bring it into alignment with God's. Once our will and heart is in alignment with His, then His power can be released through us. Or, he may change our will and heart to be the answer to our own prayer. That is, if He gave us the heart to pray for someone's need, then God may want us to be the one to give to that person.

Our prayers allow God to move but our lack of prayers stop God's will from being done, in time. Lack of prayer can never stop God's will completely, it can only delay it in time. See how the archangel Michael was hindered in Daniel.

I believe lack of prayer is the biggest problem in Christianity today. Not homosexuality, divorce etc. Prayer solves many problems because it aligns our will and heart with God's, and releases God's power on the earth , whether that be by His ministering spirits aka angels, or His direct power by the Holy Spirit, or by other human beings who He calls.

 

[B-A-C]

I believe lack of prayer is the biggest problem in Christianity today.

I totally agree. I have to wonder does God do things if we don't ask?
Jas 4:2; (b) You do not have because you do not ask.
Mat 7:11; "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Can we really change the mind of God sometimes?
Exo 32:11; Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
Exo 32:13; "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
Exo 32:14; So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

Of course these aren't the only reasons to pray. Proclamation, Confession, Praise, Giving Thanks,... there are many reasons to pray.
Yes, God knows our hearts and our thoughts before we say anything, but he still wants to hear it. Sometimes we don't feel like praying or praising Him, yet...
Heb 13:15; Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

I suspect those times we don't really feel like praying is probably when we need to most.

 

[james1523]

Can we really change the mind of God sometimes?
Exo 32:11; Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
Exo 32:13; "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
Exo 32:14; So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

This is an example of anthropopathism; ascribing human feelings to God. God does not literally repent and does not feel sorry as we do, in the sense of making a mistake. It means God took a different course of action. God as a perfect all-knowing being cannot literally change His mind in an eternal sense. But He can take different courses of action depending upon the action of man. This is an example of God's actions being conditional on man's action or response. God is unchangeable regarding His nature and eternal purpose, but His decision is changeable depending upon the action or desire of man.

To a question of whether we should want to change God's mind through prayer, if we trust that God's will is perfect and He is good and wants the best, why would we want to?

This is not an example of a human being changing a "wrong" God's mind about something. It is not that God is considering the wrong action and Moses is showing God the right way. Consider that Moses shared God's heart and love for His people. God had already wanted to spare His people, but He wanted Moses to request it.

This is an example of God deciding on a different course of action in response to His own heart, which is confirmed through His servant Moses who shared God's heart.

This gives us greater insight into what prayer really is: prayer is repeating God's desire back to God. Prayer is giving God "permission" to do on Earth what He has already determined to do. I believe this is not because God needs reminding or encouraging, but it is for our benefit so we can fulfill God's purpose for us to be His representatives and co-rulers on Earth and in the coming age.

 

[spirit1st]

Yes God has a perfect will and permissive will. In His permissive will He might let us mess up? In His prefect will He will not.

Yes i agree prayer is Us talking with Him and He with us.

Sometimes we do not pray or go to church or read the bible or do any good works and we wonder is He still with us> we feel He forgotten us or we done some evil or something. When we just are walking too much in our flesh and not enough in our spirit. We Must feed our spirit to keep it strong.
We Must spend time with Him and fellowship with our family in the Lord. and be a blessing. Praying for others . Reading his living Words and i believe going to church.

After All? Salvation is about a Relationship One on one Forever more. Without Talking and Spending time together ? where is the Relationship?

 

[Boanerges]

God always hears the cries of His children- that is the power of prayer. :smiley:
Born again believers who walk in the Spirit have the mind of Christ manifest, and pray according to His will- this is prayer that always gets a yes.
But, even when the Lord says no to something He still answers, and it is always for the good of those who love Him.
Summation: keep praying and believing for we cannot loose.

 

[james1523]

If God is not Sovereign to change man's heart, will and choices, then why do we pray for people? If God asks us to pray for others, then presumably God is powerful to change their hearts.

We should pray for people's faith not to fail, and for those who have no faith, ask God to grant them the measure of faith:

Luke 22:32 "But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.""

 

[spirit1st]

God puts thought in peoples minds just as satan does.
We either accept or reject them ? God can make it very plain what the Truth is. So there is no doubt in that persons mind.

Then it up to them ? He does not force us .