- Sep 29, 2022
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I do believe in prayer and I know it's not necessarily an "ask and you shall receive" sorta deal.
Prayer is about intimacy with God and not using it as some sort of genie in the bottle tactic.
Prayer sometimes is looked upon incorrectly as something you do as a petition to God to get an outcome you want.
The reality is we do not change God in and by prayer but it is we who come out of it changed.
Now onto my scenario.
I'm asking this now because I am able to look back in hindsight and see the outcome clearer than when I was
in the moment and hopeful. I realized that no matter how much I prayed, how earnest, sincere, and genuine it was, or
how faithful even of a person I could have been, nothing was going to change the outcome that came to be.
In other words, I'm a little disturbed that seeing and knowing what I know now, prayer wouldn't have made an ounce of
difference because it was never going to go that way.
Here's what I mean. A year ago, I believed God was doing something special in our little community/church. I was convicted
the Holy Spirit was working and going to grow our group and raise leaders, and continue to develop a core group and foundation
here. I'm going to use made up names for this situation.
I thought to myself if I can be faithful and obey God and follow Him, it is He that will build his church and His Spirit will move
and shape everything that is to happen. So I had prayed about the members and believed they would be a foundational part
of what God was building here and preparing us to do. I prayed for Sally, John, Bob, Jim, and Jane, and other people too.
It turns out few months later, Sally, John, Bob, Jim and Jane, Morris, Donny, and Patty were all moving away due to things we cannot change. Sally moved
hundreds of miles away to pursue further education. John also was assigned to another country from his workplace. Bob also
moved with his wife and kids back to another country to live with his parents. Jim and Jane also moved with their family back
to another country where they originally came from, same goes with Morris, Donny, and Patty. These weren't choices they had an option to stay
or not....they were things they HAD/MUST do and staying here was always just temporary.
Basically, 75% of everyone that used to be here had to move. It was either
work related, family related, or simply their time here was finished (contracts were up etc). So I realized now having known this,
when I look back to a year ago when I didn't know they were all going to move away anyways, I realized no matter how much I would
have prayed, fasted, been faithful to God, believed in the things God was doing here, none of it would have changed a thing because
they were ALL going to move away anyways.
It's not like they got sent away because I or we failed to be faithful and obedient, and failed to repent, fast, and give it our best. If we
had been the perfect Christian like Jesus for 1 year, that wouldn't have changed the fact they were all going to be moving away regardless.
So then prayer wouldn't have changed the outcome.
I just found that kinda interesting and depressing when looking back with the advantage of hindsight because you realize I was sort of
played like a fool not realizing that no matter how much I prayed or how good of believer I was, it was never in the cards and it was always
a dead end.
The group has nearly completely dismantled (I also left but by choice). There is a newer group of members that came in now and of course I know God has an infinite
plan so it's not like one possibility was foiled and now God's plan got screwed up. No. God obviously is in full control and nobody can thwart
his plans so He doesn't need us or me, for His plans to carry on, but He is obviously working still and doing something else (with the reset and
new members that have arrived). I just found this to be eye opening and confusing because it's not like a situation where it could have been
averted such as an accident, tragedy, mishap, poor decisions, timing, etc. No, these moves by Sally, John, Bob, Jim and Jane, Morris, Donny and Patty, were all cemented/arranged ahead of time and they weren't going to be here 100%...I just didn't know that specifically at the time, but I believed we were all here
to be the foundational members/leaders and build this church and raise the community to serve and worship God, be a family in Christ, and glorify Him
in our community.
Prayer is about intimacy with God and not using it as some sort of genie in the bottle tactic.
Prayer sometimes is looked upon incorrectly as something you do as a petition to God to get an outcome you want.
The reality is we do not change God in and by prayer but it is we who come out of it changed.
Now onto my scenario.
I'm asking this now because I am able to look back in hindsight and see the outcome clearer than when I was
in the moment and hopeful. I realized that no matter how much I prayed, how earnest, sincere, and genuine it was, or
how faithful even of a person I could have been, nothing was going to change the outcome that came to be.
In other words, I'm a little disturbed that seeing and knowing what I know now, prayer wouldn't have made an ounce of
difference because it was never going to go that way.
Here's what I mean. A year ago, I believed God was doing something special in our little community/church. I was convicted
the Holy Spirit was working and going to grow our group and raise leaders, and continue to develop a core group and foundation
here. I'm going to use made up names for this situation.
I thought to myself if I can be faithful and obey God and follow Him, it is He that will build his church and His Spirit will move
and shape everything that is to happen. So I had prayed about the members and believed they would be a foundational part
of what God was building here and preparing us to do. I prayed for Sally, John, Bob, Jim, and Jane, and other people too.
It turns out few months later, Sally, John, Bob, Jim and Jane, Morris, Donny, and Patty were all moving away due to things we cannot change. Sally moved
hundreds of miles away to pursue further education. John also was assigned to another country from his workplace. Bob also
moved with his wife and kids back to another country to live with his parents. Jim and Jane also moved with their family back
to another country where they originally came from, same goes with Morris, Donny, and Patty. These weren't choices they had an option to stay
or not....they were things they HAD/MUST do and staying here was always just temporary.
Basically, 75% of everyone that used to be here had to move. It was either
work related, family related, or simply their time here was finished (contracts were up etc). So I realized now having known this,
when I look back to a year ago when I didn't know they were all going to move away anyways, I realized no matter how much I would
have prayed, fasted, been faithful to God, believed in the things God was doing here, none of it would have changed a thing because
they were ALL going to move away anyways.
It's not like they got sent away because I or we failed to be faithful and obedient, and failed to repent, fast, and give it our best. If we
had been the perfect Christian like Jesus for 1 year, that wouldn't have changed the fact they were all going to be moving away regardless.
So then prayer wouldn't have changed the outcome.
I just found that kinda interesting and depressing when looking back with the advantage of hindsight because you realize I was sort of
played like a fool not realizing that no matter how much I prayed or how good of believer I was, it was never in the cards and it was always
a dead end.
The group has nearly completely dismantled (I also left but by choice). There is a newer group of members that came in now and of course I know God has an infinite
plan so it's not like one possibility was foiled and now God's plan got screwed up. No. God obviously is in full control and nobody can thwart
his plans so He doesn't need us or me, for His plans to carry on, but He is obviously working still and doing something else (with the reset and
new members that have arrived). I just found this to be eye opening and confusing because it's not like a situation where it could have been
averted such as an accident, tragedy, mishap, poor decisions, timing, etc. No, these moves by Sally, John, Bob, Jim and Jane, Morris, Donny and Patty, were all cemented/arranged ahead of time and they weren't going to be here 100%...I just didn't know that specifically at the time, but I believed we were all here
to be the foundational members/leaders and build this church and raise the community to serve and worship God, be a family in Christ, and glorify Him
in our community.
