God Needs Constant Pleadings to Help Someone?

The short, definite, wonderful answer is that God has already prepared a blessed pathway for each of us. We step off of that path when we seek sin as the "logical" answer, or we place priorities on things secular. Think about it....... those who have stepped off the path, or who misplace priorities, bump into those who are authentic, Bible-thumping Believers. The latter are walking along the path in great joy when they get bumped off of it by an entourage of naysayers, an entourage of distorters of Scripture, letting doubt and frustration creep in. One cannot jump into authentic prayer for self and others while leading a secular lifestyle. The original path doesn't go anywhere, we just stray from it.

In other words, God doesn't provide faulty plans.

Well, I don't see God as being in the same position we are. Jesus suffered and died for us so the least we can do is give of our plenty to help others. That doesn't give us the right to think we somehow deserve His catering to our ever challenge and pain.

And you're correct, we should not be pleading that God make our lives easier. That's not what Gods all about. He has a will for us. If we are living within that will, He will play I use all that we need to fulfill it, as long as our focus is on Him, not our attachments to the world.

Radrook said:

Why are so many Christians under the impression that we must plead with God to take action in order for him to do the decent thing that any of us would readily without any need for persuasion because it is the decent thing to do? It makes God out to seem rather callous. IMHO

We as Christians don't require those who are needy of mercy, compassion, material assistance, moral support, alleviation of any type mental or physical distress to constantly plead with us for us to help them before we respond. We help them because it is the righteously loving and just thing to do. So why imagine God as any different?

Could it well be that those who imagine God that way are projecting their own tendencies onto the creator?

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Radrook said:

The act of praying isn't the issue. The issue is why we believe that many prayers and supplication will finally catch his attention as if the solitary prayers had not. It makes him out to be some petulant being who enjoys seeing his creatures grovel.

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Exactly. The question is.. why.. do we ask others to pray for us or a situation. Is not OUR prayer enough? Why form a prayer chain? It must be because our prayers are not enough to get an answer?

Radrook said:

The act of praying isn't the issue. The issue is why we believe that many prayers and supplication will finally catch his attention as if the solitary prayers had not. It makes him out to be some petulant being who enjoys seeing his creatures grovel.

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Well Radrook, yours is an interesting question. Especially in the form (words) of this post. "It makes Him out to be some petulant being who enjoys seeing His creatures grovel." First of all you are putting a spin on this that might not be real, many prayers more powerful than solitary prayers as a belief creates the statement highlighted in bold? And Second, "will finally catch His attention," is another spin that might not be real. And third, "as if solitary prayers had not," might also be a false assumption on your part as a part of that spin.

So where do we go from here? Group prayer is more powerful. At least generally speaking. I say generally speaking because some individuals have a closer relationship to God than others do and their prayers are always answered and those individuals can actually have more power in prayer than a given group does. But other than that, group prayer is more powerful because God responds to "heart" energy mass. Most people do not have a lot of heart energy mass, but as a group they do. This does not make God petulant or mean that anyone is groveling. God responds to "Love", He just does. Lord Jesus said that there are three things that God responds to, Faith, Hope, and Love, with Love being the most powerful. And the greater the Faith, Hope, and/or Love the greater the response of God (this is with the understanding that the response may happen in background ways that we might not see). Yes we might be manipulating God to create a given response as a group or as an individual, but that does not mean that "It makes God out as a petulant being or that He enjoys seeing His creatures grovel". Radrook, it is physics, not personality.