A Question of Faith and Prayer

[Tuur]

For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.

What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.

I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.

What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.

I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.

God hears our prayers, but we need to be living a life that is in submission to His will. Here are a few verses that show us this…

John 9:31 - "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will."
1 Peter 3:12 - "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
4. Jeremiah 29:12-13; "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

We need to be seeking God daily and submitting to His will- living a righteous life according to His rightnesses Psa 119:172, not our version.

There is a promise if we ask according to His will He will hear our prayer.

1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

A good example of this is to pray to have Him for more love and faith to Him. That is His will that we all will be saved through faith. Someone with faith lives differently than someone without. In faith you no longer live for yourself which is reflected in our prayers. God wants us happy, but it is according to His will, not ours.

For example, say you are single and want to find a spouse the wrong way to pray is to ask for superficial things like I want my spouse to be good looking, to be tall, to be wealthy etc. The better prayer is to acknowledge that God knows what is best for us and wants us happy and to send us the person who will bring us closer to Him and someone who will make us happy and leave the rest in God’s hands. He knows us better than we do.

Many use God as a genie to ask for things that are outside His will and live a worldly life which prayers are reflected as such. This is what God says about those type of prayers…

Proverbs 28:9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

Whatever we are struggling with submit to God, He wants us happy and knows what will bring us true happiness and that is living a life that mirrors how Jesus lived, who lived to be our example to follow 1 John 2:6. We need the faith of Jesus i.e. Live as He did!

Here’s a video on prayers. Hope this helps a little!
God bless!

 

[Tuur]

The above post is good, yet isn't quite the question I'm struggling with. It's faith and prayer. Is it proper to have faith that God will answer with a "Yes" or should we, instead, have faith that God will answer "Yes" if it's His will? Certainly God isn't a genie subject to our whims, and while I don't argue with the scripture quoted above, I have the uneasy feeling that we would be amiss to have the expectation that God will automatically answer "Yes" if we are walking with Him and not in darkness.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.

What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.

I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.

I am going to say that God never says no to a prayer that He can hear.

1 John 5 says that God (effectively) does not hear prayers that are outside His will.

1 John 5:14-15 KJV
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

So it is not that He says "no"... it is just that prayers offered with no faith are not even (effectively) heard.
So the question comes down to - Is what you are praying for within His will? If you are unsure that something is His will, then that lack of "confidence" is enough to resolve to a doubt, even if it IS His will to have the thing. So, as James says:

Jas 1:
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is
like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jesus said that you should believe you have received the thing when you pray... and you will have it.

Mark 11:24 RV
24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for,
believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.

So believe that you have received, regardless of your thoughts or feelings. Just hold fast to the confession that you have received it. If it is NOT His will you will not receive... but what have you got to lose by believing anyway? Doubting you have received when it is His will for you to have it will short-circuit your faith! So, believe you have received it regardless!

 

[Bobber]

The above post is good, yet isn't quite the question I'm struggling with. It's faith and prayer. Is it proper to have faith that God will answer with a "Yes" or should we, instead, have faith that God will answer "Yes" if it's His will? Certainly God isn't a genie subject to our whims, and while I don't argue with the scripture quoted above, I have the uneasy feeling that we would be amiss to have the expectation that God will automatically answer "Yes" if we are walking with Him and not in darkness.

It all depends on what you're praying about.

 

[honey badger]

just like Jesus our footsteps are ordered ... the faith Jesus had was to believe he could do nothing of himself and so entered into the finnished work of our Father .... the creation not being several days back in memorial but we are still in it now ...

interestingly Jesus knew full well he would drink from the cup, but as soon as he drank he died ... in a sense he was kept from it ... his moment cast down but a blink of an eye ....

 

[CoreyD]

For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.

What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.

I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.

It's just that sometimes we want things that are not in harmony with God's will, or we want things in our own time.
For example, we may pray for our children that they all return home from school safely.
Or some may pray for peace in this world.

We live in a world where "time and unpredictable events overtake all of" us Ecclesiastes 9:11, so if a bad accident occurs, and our child does not make it home safely, does that mean, we should not bother praying for a safe return home?
No, it means we must remember that if it is according to God's will to spare our child that chanced happening he will, so we leave that in his hands, with the realization that anything can happen in this world, and we accept that fact, with the outlook, that in God's due time, his will will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

Likewise, praying for peace in this world would not be in harmony with God's will, since God has allowed Satan to rule this world (not earth) for a time 1 John 5:19, and in God's due time, he will bring peace on the earth. Isaiah 9:6, 7

Our patience is linked to faith and endurance.
2 Peter 1:5-7; James 1:3, 4

 

[eleos1954]

For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.

What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.

I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.

Micah 6:8

AMP
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion), And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?

Psalm 51:10​

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Amen.

Proverbs 3:5​

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

 

[com7fy8]

"casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

 

[2PhiloVoid]

For I while I've had difficulty with the question of faith and prayer. Specifically, when God seems to say "No." At times prayer seems futile. Yet I'm reminded that Jesus prayed, if it were God's will, that He might be spared the cup that was ahead of Him, and it was not. None of us are greater than Christ, so if God told Him "No," then we shouldn't be surprised when He tells us "No," too. We can find other examples in the Bible. God is, well, God, and we are His creation, not the other way around.

What I'm struggling with is the point of prayer. And yet Jesus prayed, and we aren't greater than Him. Since God the Son prayed, we should as well.

I'm thinking that faith in prayer is that God has the power to answer "Yes" if it's His will, but while true, other scripture seems to point to something else. I'm just so confused here.

I think you've pretty much already alluded to the answer to your question here. It's all about realizing and sometimes wrestling with the fact that in the middle of our wants and needs in our lives, What God's Will is is still a factor within the interrelation we have with Him. Moreover, we all have to face sooner or later that God's Will is paramount in our lives and even within what constitutes "prayer." Too often, we can get caught in the idea that prayer is basically one thing and one thing only: asking God for help. But the biblical truth is that that really isn't the case.