Does God answer your prayer?

[Jim Langston]

I got this idea out of 1 John 5, specifically

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.

But farther forward it says:

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

There seems to be 2 camps in the Christian faith 1. Jesus saved my sins, I am a sinner and there is nothing I can do about it 2. Jesus saved my sins, I am to follow God's commandments and try not to sin (willfully sin).

I am wondering if, to find out which one is the correct one, we can simply look at if God answers our prayers or not. I know that God answers my prayers consistently and I get just about everything I want. For example, I'll point at a company "God, I want to work there one day", I'll point at another company "God, I want to work there one day" this in a big city. I get calls and get hired by those companies. I've pointed to a car "God, I want to own a car just like that one day" and the owner winds up selling me the car I pointed at. These are things I can say, Yes, God definitely answers my prayers.

So, I would ask, does God answers your prayers? I'm not asking if it says so in the bible so it must be true, I'm asking if you can point to things you pray for and get them. And, which camp are you in? Do you rest on Jesus' laurels or do you try to walk the narrow road to salvation?

 

[Emmy]

Dear Jim Langston. Does God answer our prayers? Yes He does. In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." These two Commandments tell us what God wants from us: Love God and love each other. In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " Ask and you shall receive." We ask for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. (neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friend and not friend) Here we have our answered prayers: we ask for love and joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us and carry on loving and caring, be friendly and always ready to smile. That is what God wants from us, ASK AND RECEIVE. We will find that God answers our prayers: we ask lovingly and God will ALWAYS ANSWER OUR PRAYERS. God is Love and God wants loving sons and daughters. I say this with love, Jim. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Stillicidia]

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[Jim Langston]

Dear Jim Langston. Does God answer our prayers? Yes He does. In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." These two Commandments tell us what God wants from us: Love God and love each other. In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " Ask and you shall receive." We ask for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. (neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friend and not friend) Here we have our answered prayers: we ask for love and joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us and carry on loving and caring, be friendly and always ready to smile. That is what God wants from us, ASK AND RECEIVE. We will find that God answers our prayers: we ask lovingly and God will ALWAYS ANSWER OUR PRAYERS. God is Love and God wants loving sons and daughters. I say this with love, Jim. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

When I asked God for the Lincoln Towncar that was not love and joy, orher than God showing His love for me. When I prayed to work at all these companies that is not love and joy. The many hundreds of things I've prayed for and received, not love and joy but physical things, physical acts and God grants them to me because He loves me and I follow his commandments. We are told in the bible "you have not because you ask not".

The fact you have not received things from God could be simply because you've never asked. Or it could be because you are not walking his path.

 

[Jim Langston]

[QUOTE="Stillicidia, post: 70140874, member: 386538]
If you pray for something directly against his will, in secret, that is called using his name in vain.[/QUOTE]

I don't know where you get this strange notion. Taking God's name in vain is using the name of God carelessly. Throwing it around, such as when people curse with it asking god to damn something, using it as an explenitive (oh god!) Using it in a manner where you're not actually talking about or to god but just making his name a common word.

Kinda like if someone used your name,
"Oh Stillicia"
"Yes?"
"I wasn't talking to you"

 

[Stillicidia]

[QUOTE="Stillicidia, post: 70140874, member: 386538]
If you pray for something directly against his will, in secret, that is called using his name in vain.

I don't know where you get this strange notion. Taking God's name in vain is using the name of God carelessly. Throwing it around, such as when people curse with it asking god to damn something, using it as an explenitive (oh god!) Using it in a manner where you're not actually talking about or to god but just making his name a common word.

Asking god to curse something is exactly what that is. It's not as if that isn't a prayer though.

 

[Jim Langston]

Asking god to curse something is exactly what that is. It's not as if that isn't a prayer though.

Yes, asking God to curse something could usually be consideted taking God's name in vain. Unless you were actually asking God to curse someone, it wouldn't neccessarily be in vain but God wouldn't usually do it. Vain in this context I think means the same as the vain in "vain repititions", repeating something over and over hoping the many repititions mean simething, after the firtlst two or three rimes you arn't really thinking about what you're saying, they are just sounds at that point.

Asking God to do something against his will may be vain in the sense that it just isn't going to hapoen, but I don't think thats what the commandment not to take the Lord's name in vain is talking about.

 

[Stillicidia]

Yes, asking God to curse something could usually be consideted taking God's name in vain. Unless you were actually asking God to curse someone, it wouldn't neccessarily be in vain but God wouldn't usually do it. Vain in this context I think means the same as the vain in "vain repititions", repeating something over and over hoping the many repititions mean simething, after the firtlst two or three rimes you arn't really thinking about what you're saying, they are just sounds at that point.

Asking God to do something against his will may be vain in the sense that it just isn't going to hapoen, but I don't think thats what the commandment not to take the Lord's name in vain is talking about.

It is totally against his will to curse someone, and there should be no question. He speaks of his only desires being that we all manage to find him, and he speaks of only loving.