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Does prayer help you get what you need, or is it merely a confirmation to God of how He has predestined you? John 15:7 says “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” But considering other passages in the Bible, those that mention we who love God have been predestined, it seems that context might play a part in Passages like the one above. Conceivably, if you love God you are already akin to the things He would do for you, so the things you ask Him for are what He was already going to do for you. This is in the context of Romans 8:28-30 which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” So, the things you ask God for, that are in conformity with Jesus, are things He would do anyway.
Considering the importance of prayer that the Bible impresses on us, one may ask if in the above discussion they don’t ask God for something, on the basis that God would do it anyway if they didn’t ask? Some may be influenced by Psalm 27:14 which says, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” It doesn’t tell us to pray, does it? When the Hebrews were badly mistreated by Egypt, would God have come to their aid if their cries didn’t reach up to Him as they did in Exodus 2:23? In verse 24 there’s a strong indication that God would have helped them anyway, since He made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God must have known of the Hebrews’ suffering without them crying up to Him; perhaps He wanted them to remember that it was He who helped them, particularly after their cries were heard. Is it that much different than the implied context of John 15:7, in which the things we ask for could have been things that God meant to do anyway?
Has prayer actually gotten God to change His mind about something He was going to do? Consider the Book of Jonah in Chapter 3 in which Jonah says to the Ninevens that God will destroy their city because of the sins they committed. The King in Verse 7 makes a proclamation that the people should “call out mightily to God” and engage in self-denying pursuits to show their atonement for their sins. Did God actually change His Mind when they called out to Him, or was He merely waiting for the Ninevans to acknowledge their sins? And perhaps, given that He is God, he already knew they were going to call up to Him in prayer. Jonah 3:10 says that God “relented,” implying He changed His Mind, but did He already have it in mind to relent when He heard from them?
What would they have said when they called up to Him? The Bible doesn’t say. Did they say ‘Please don’t destroy our city, God?’ Or did they say ‘Lord, please forgive us of our sins, and we will turn away from evil from this time forth,’ and for God, that was all He needed to hear before sparing them from what He planned?
Submitted for your approval, I offer some real-life incidences involving prayer. My late mother told me that when I was an infant, Macy’s in New York City was running a raffle in which some lucky person would receive a full-size stand-up piano. She entered the raffle, and she prayed to God to let her win the piano for it would add much joy to the household in the face of things that caused a lot of stress at the time. Low and behold, she won the piano out of 10,000 people who entered the raffle! The piano was in our household ever since, and it was instrumental in bringing out my musical talent. What if she didn’t pray? Did God have it in mind for her to win the piano regardless?
More recently, it was late at night and there was a big storm with high winds that flooded some roads, and one of my daughters was out late. She has an independent streak in her, so she didn’t say where she was going in her car, could have been a long distance away for all we knew, or when she would be home, and I started to worry that something may have happened to her, either that she was stuck in a ditch or was seriously injured or worse. The rest of the household was asleep as I was awake in bed. I asked God if He could have her come home safe and sound. About 30 seconds later...30 seconds!...I heard the front door open, and I heard her coming in, like she came back from something as routine as picking up some things from the grocery store around the corner on a clear day. Did God respond to my prayers, or did He will it all along that my daughter would come home OK, something along the lines of Romans 8:29...30?
Would prayer have helped Jacob’s brother Esau, whom God made up His Mind to hate, as it says in Romans 9:13 and Malachi 1:2-3? If Esau cried up to God, would God have changed His Attitude toward him? Or was Esau predestined to be hated by God, no matter what? What did Esau do to make God hate him? The Bible doesn’t say. Seems that God decided before Esau and Jacob were born, that Jacob He would love, and Esau He would hate.
What good is prayer? Seems that in many instances, at least it can’t hurt, and in other instances, in a part of our universe that is beyond our mortal understanding...after all, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts as it says in Isaiah 55:8...we shouldn’t discount the possibility prayer can alter the future.
Considering the importance of prayer that the Bible impresses on us, one may ask if in the above discussion they don’t ask God for something, on the basis that God would do it anyway if they didn’t ask? Some may be influenced by Psalm 27:14 which says, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” It doesn’t tell us to pray, does it? When the Hebrews were badly mistreated by Egypt, would God have come to their aid if their cries didn’t reach up to Him as they did in Exodus 2:23? In verse 24 there’s a strong indication that God would have helped them anyway, since He made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God must have known of the Hebrews’ suffering without them crying up to Him; perhaps He wanted them to remember that it was He who helped them, particularly after their cries were heard. Is it that much different than the implied context of John 15:7, in which the things we ask for could have been things that God meant to do anyway?
Has prayer actually gotten God to change His mind about something He was going to do? Consider the Book of Jonah in Chapter 3 in which Jonah says to the Ninevens that God will destroy their city because of the sins they committed. The King in Verse 7 makes a proclamation that the people should “call out mightily to God” and engage in self-denying pursuits to show their atonement for their sins. Did God actually change His Mind when they called out to Him, or was He merely waiting for the Ninevans to acknowledge their sins? And perhaps, given that He is God, he already knew they were going to call up to Him in prayer. Jonah 3:10 says that God “relented,” implying He changed His Mind, but did He already have it in mind to relent when He heard from them?
What would they have said when they called up to Him? The Bible doesn’t say. Did they say ‘Please don’t destroy our city, God?’ Or did they say ‘Lord, please forgive us of our sins, and we will turn away from evil from this time forth,’ and for God, that was all He needed to hear before sparing them from what He planned?
Submitted for your approval, I offer some real-life incidences involving prayer. My late mother told me that when I was an infant, Macy’s in New York City was running a raffle in which some lucky person would receive a full-size stand-up piano. She entered the raffle, and she prayed to God to let her win the piano for it would add much joy to the household in the face of things that caused a lot of stress at the time. Low and behold, she won the piano out of 10,000 people who entered the raffle! The piano was in our household ever since, and it was instrumental in bringing out my musical talent. What if she didn’t pray? Did God have it in mind for her to win the piano regardless?
More recently, it was late at night and there was a big storm with high winds that flooded some roads, and one of my daughters was out late. She has an independent streak in her, so she didn’t say where she was going in her car, could have been a long distance away for all we knew, or when she would be home, and I started to worry that something may have happened to her, either that she was stuck in a ditch or was seriously injured or worse. The rest of the household was asleep as I was awake in bed. I asked God if He could have her come home safe and sound. About 30 seconds later...30 seconds!...I heard the front door open, and I heard her coming in, like she came back from something as routine as picking up some things from the grocery store around the corner on a clear day. Did God respond to my prayers, or did He will it all along that my daughter would come home OK, something along the lines of Romans 8:29...30?
Would prayer have helped Jacob’s brother Esau, whom God made up His Mind to hate, as it says in Romans 9:13 and Malachi 1:2-3? If Esau cried up to God, would God have changed His Attitude toward him? Or was Esau predestined to be hated by God, no matter what? What did Esau do to make God hate him? The Bible doesn’t say. Seems that God decided before Esau and Jacob were born, that Jacob He would love, and Esau He would hate.
What good is prayer? Seems that in many instances, at least it can’t hurt, and in other instances, in a part of our universe that is beyond our mortal understanding...after all, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts as it says in Isaiah 55:8...we shouldn’t discount the possibility prayer can alter the future.
