Prayer Help, Questions, Sharing stuff

[lukem]

Hello , I Apologize in advance for anything conflicted or confusing that I say but this is how i feel.
ever since I've been on this earth i have had god in my mind but I'm not sure if i have been letting him in my heart the majority of the time my parents raised me with the knowledge of Jesus , loved\love me very much and we went to church every week. As I'm getting older (I'm 22) I'm now starting to ask questions because as I'm coming to realize there seams to be things amiss in my ideas.

When I was younger my parents or other people told me things that may not be true or i misinterpreted what they said . they did this because they thought it was in my best wishes or maybe it was just a harmless joke or whatever. As I have gotten older gradually these lies fade away as you learn the true things. for e.g. : when i was 5 years old we came home one day to discover that the 2 birds had got out of the cage and flown away i was sad. my dad said don't worry ill put the cage up on the roof and maybe they will come back sure enough when we got home the birds where back in the cage WOW. we where so surprised and happy. incredible! 11 years later in the car :
Me: "Dad remember that time the birds came back into the cage . that was awesome , i cant believe they did that!"
Dad : "ummn well (awkwardly) that didn't happen we bought 2 new ones"
Me : "WHAT!"
Dad : "sorry i thought you knew"
And then i thought "how stupid of me to belive that" but i think stuff we learn as a kid we just accept and don't question. With my concept of god as i have gotten older I'm learning everything i can for myself and not just swallowing what my parents gave me . I wonder if anyone else who has been brought up as a Christian has had to do this ? or are there people who never question and truly belive ? For some reason good or bad I have become a person who doesn't easily accept things without thorough investigations. I'm usually firstly doubt full of a lot of stuff then i have to try belive it myself. If someone says something sometimes i go "yeah that sounds good, ill check it out for myself"

I've read that in order to let Christ come into your life all you need to do is give your life to him admit your a sinner and that you need him and just let him recieve you. then you need to change well i cant change so i pray to Jesus to change me.

now this is where I'm having problems . I do not understand prayer . I've read that in order for God to fix your problem you need to first belive that he has fixed it. When i first heard this i was a bit shocked its as if god goes "well if hes not going to belive in me well screw him I'm not fixing that" but as I've been thinking , maybe God simply cannot fix it if we do not completely give it over we are taking it into OUR will. I thought maybe it didn't mater weather we believed in him or not his power is far to great to be interrupted by my wavering belief, he will still be able to help us so i haven't been to concerned with things such as belief. I am sure at times i have believed but alot of the time i just don't really care weather i belive or not , its just to hard with all the sin in the world pulling me away. I guess i have assumed that people are up and down in their belief and it was very hard to belive like head people in the church do . i thought maybe in a few years something amazing will happen and i will belive like they do.

Well i want to believe and as I've been desiring this I've been trying to work out if i actually belive in god or if i just think i belive or just say to myself that i belive because i have nothing to lose. BUT I WANT TO ACTUALLY FULLY BELIVE AND FULLY BE AWARE OF MY BELIEF WITHOUT ANY DOUBT
. is this even possible ? are there people out there that actually fully belive just as much as they belive in a tree or the ground ? does this describe your belief ? I feel there is something stopping me from believing i think I'm scared of accidently just pretending to belive I don't want to freely just say "I BELIVE" because i think I've done that many times in my life. it says that even the demons belive in him. why cant I ?
. its so hard to belive in something i cant see. many times when I'm alone in nature contemplating his creation i belive i can see/feel him (but right now in my current state I'm unsure if i was just brain washed by happiness) but most of the time I'm not like that. I'm starting to realize as I write is that alot of the time I'm undecided I don't really care too much because in the end I will find out the truth. I want to get out of that if that what I'm meant to do. I sometimes wish i could just swallow what people told me then maybe i could see god properly and truly believe. but i know thats not the way. How is your belief ? how did you get to belive if you do? please help me ! thanks!

some other questions which i have been wondering :

why do we tell people to prey for us ? why don't we just prey for ourselves ? sure its not that the more people that prey will great the chance of it"working" !?!! why do churches get all its members to keep so and so in their prayers I thought all you need is one prayer and god will listen to you. he doesn't go "one prayer ?!?! is all you got , go and get some friends to do it too then well talk I need at least 15!!!" does he ?

and

why must we keep praying endlessly again and again the same prayer !?!? every night the same thing Please PLEASE PLEASE help me with this . making ourselves sick with repetition . do we think the more times we do it the greater chance it will work !?! does sometimes god forget what we told him so we gotta keep doing it ?
do we have to pray again and again ? if we believed it worked why do we need to prey more than once ?

why do we need pray at all we know god can see all and hear all including whats in our hearts and our minds.

what is prayer ?

thanks xoox

 

[Cliff2]

Hello , I Apologize in advance for anything conflicted or confusing that I say but this is how i feel.
ever since I've been on this earth i have had god in my mind but I'm not sure if i have been letting him in my heart the majority of the time my parents raised me with the knowledge of Jesus , loved\love me very much and we went to church every week. As I'm getting older (I'm 22) I'm now starting to ask questions because as I'm coming to realize there seams to be things amiss in my ideas.

When I was younger my parents or other people told me things that may not be true or i misinterpreted what they said . they did this because they thought it was in my best wishes or maybe it was just a harmless joke or whatever. As I have gotten older gradually these lies fade away as you learn the true things. for e.g. : when i was 5 years old we came home one day to discover that the 2 birds had got out of the cage and flown away i was sad. my dad said don't worry ill put the cage up on the roof and maybe they will come back sure enough when we got home the birds where back in the cage WOW. we where so surprised and happy. incredible! 11 years later in the car :
Me: "Dad remember that time the birds came back into the cage . that was awesome , i cant believe they did that!"
Dad : "ummn well (awkwardly) that didn't happen we bought 2 new ones"
Me : "WHAT!"
Dad : "sorry i thought you knew"
And then i thought "how stupid of me to belive that" but i think stuff we learn as a kid we just accept and don't question. With my concept of god as i have gotten older I'm learning everything i can for myself and not just swallowing what my parents gave me . I wonder if anyone else who has been brought up as a Christian has had to do this ? or are there people who never question and truly belive ? For some reason good or bad I have become a person who doesn't easily accept things without thorough investigations. I'm usually firstly doubt full of a lot of stuff then i have to try belive it myself. If someone says something sometimes i go "yeah that sounds good, ill check it out for myself"

I've read that in order to let Christ come into your life all you need to do is give your life to him admit your a sinner and that you need him and just let him recieve you. then you need to change well i cant change so i pray to Jesus to change me.

now this is where I'm having problems . I do not understand prayer . I've read that in order for God to fix your problem you need to first belive that he has fixed it. When i first heard this i was a bit shocked its as if god goes "well if hes not going to belive in me well screw him I'm not fixing that" but as I've been thinking , maybe God simply cannot fix it if we do not completely give it over we are taking it into OUR will. I thought maybe it didn't mater weather we believed in him or not his power is far to great to be interrupted by my wavering belief, he will still be able to help us so i haven't been to concerned with things such as belief. I am sure at times i have believed but alot of the time i just don't really care weather i belive or not , its just to hard with all the sin in the world pulling me away. I guess i have assumed that people are up and down in their belief and it was very hard to belive like head people in the church do . i thought maybe in a few years something amazing will happen and i will belive like they do.

Well i want to believe and as I've been desiring this I've been trying to work out if i actually belive in god or if i just think i belive or just say to myself that i belive because i have nothing to lose. BUT I WANT TO ACTUALLY FULLY BELIVE AND FULLY BE AWARE OF MY BELIEF WITHOUT ANY DOUBT
. is this even possible ? are there people out there that actually fully belive just as much as they belive in a tree or the ground ? does this describe your belief ? I feel there is something stopping me from believing i think I'm scared of accidently just pretending to belive I don't want to freely just say "I BELIVE" because i think I've done that many times in my life. it says that even the demons belive in him. why cant I ?
. its so hard to belive in something i cant see. many times when I'm alone in nature contemplating his creation i belive i can see/feel him (but right now in my current state I'm unsure if i was just brain washed by happiness) but most of the time I'm not like that. I'm starting to realize as I write is that alot of the time I'm undecided I don't really care too much because in the end I will find out the truth. I want to get out of that if that what I'm meant to do. I sometimes wish i could just swallow what people told me then maybe i could see god properly and truly believe. but i know thats not the way. How is your belief ? how did you get to belive if you do? please help me ! thanks!

some other questions which i have been wondering :

why do we tell people to prey for us ? why don't we just prey for ourselves ? sure its not that the more people that prey will great the chance of it"working" !?!! why do churches get all its members to keep so and so in their prayers I thought all you need is one prayer and god will listen to you. he doesn't go "one prayer ?!?! is all you got , go and get some friends to do it too then well talk I need at least 15!!!" does he ?

and

why must we keep praying endlessly again and again the same prayer !?!? every night the same thing Please PLEASE PLEASE help me with this . making ourselves sick with repetition . do we think the more times we do it the greater chance it will work !?! does sometimes god forget what we told him so we gotta keep doing it ?
do we have to pray again and again ? if we believed it worked why do we need to prey more than once ?

why do we need pray at all we know god can see all and hear all including whats in our hearts and our minds.

what is prayer ?

thanks xoox

Just great questions, I can assure you that your questions are certainly taken seriously.

If I could answer just one of them fully I would class myself as a genious.

I will suggest a book to you that is called "Steps to Christ"

I have read it through or at least parts of it through all my life.

I can really relate to what you are saying as I have a son that is 22 this year and a daughter that turned 20 on June 14.

They often talk to me about much the same things as what you are saying.

It is much like theb question that many ask

"If God knew everything, then why create Lucifer and us at all"

I can't answer that question and I do not know know if anyone can.

Sure, some will say that God is love and all that but it does not answer the question.

But I do know one thing that a Seventh-day Adventist Christian sees things differently to person of the world.

It is not how deep the valley is but how we come up the other side of the mountain.

Take prayer, your question on prayer is valid.

God hears one prayer offered up from us to Him. Then why does 1,000 make the recovery or whatever any more likely to succeed than if just one person prayed.

I can tell right now it does not.

So why get more to pray?

The benifit comes to the person making the prayer, not always to the person to whom the prayer has been for.

That may sound strange but it is true.

Let me explain.

Sister X has cancer. The whole church prays for nher. Then the majority of that Church visists her and gives her encouragement. Sister X shows remarkable courage to those who come and see her and the visitor often goes away blessed for seeing the faithfulness that Sister X has shown.

I know it does not always work out that way but for me it did.

We had a Church member who was very low. At 91 byears of age she was not winning the battle with her sickness. But even right to the end she encouraged people with her fight and desire to see the Lord come.

She held my hand as firm as she could and spoke to me. I went away feeling as though it was me being given encouragement instead of giving it.

As we minister to each other God will bless us and sustain us.

Don't forget Steps to Christ, by all means continue to share with us here your thoughts.

Blessings

Cliff

 

[lukem]

ok thanks cliff I understand what you said. steps to christ and the things it says was what prompted me to post this im readign it for the second time right now , it has a section on prayer im about to read. thanks for your help cliff

 

[Sophia7]

The Bible tells us to pray for each other. I don't know exactly how intercessory prayer works, but somehow it does.

James 5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Also, we can't make ourselves righteous. Only God can do that. We can't make ourselves do all the right things. Only God can recreate us in His image. What we can do is ask Him to work in our lives, and He will. It might take some time, though, to be able to see how He is working.

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Yes, I do believe in God without a doubt because I have seen Him work in my life and answer my prayers.

I believe that it is a misconception that we have to keep on pestering God to make Him answer us when we pray.

 

[lukem]

thanks sophia for sharing that. what I still don't understand is “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV) does it mean keep praying even when we think our prayer has not been answered, to keep going because if we stop we will not get answered ? but it says in order for your prayer to be answered pray then believe you have been answered and at that moment you have then you will some time later receive that answered prayer. So why then if we prayed and believed it and it was answered should we need to pray again ? “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV) is this maybe speaking generally ? not about specific requests but praying in general ? is that what you are talking about ? do you request something more than once ? or where you saying that you keep praying in general ?
thanks again

 

[Sophia7]

thanks sophia for sharing that. what I still don't understand is “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV) does it mean keep praying even when we think our prayer has not been answered, to keep going because if we stop we will not get answered ? but it says in order for your prayer to be answered pray then believe you have been answered and at that moment you have then you will some time later receive that answered prayer. So why then if we prayed and believed it and it was answered should we need to pray again ? “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV) is this maybe speaking generally ? not about specific requests but praying in general ? is that what you are talking about ? do you request something more than once ? or where you saying that you keep praying in general ?
thanks again

Yes, I believe that when it says to always pray and not give up, it means simply to keep praying always, to keep talking to God, not to keep praying over and over about the same things because we don't think that God is answering us. If we thought that God was like the friend in this parable or like the unjust judge in Luke 18, how many of us would want to keep praying to Him? It would be hard to love a God like that. We do need to have faith when we pray a specific prayer that God will answer it. However, we can't make ourselves have faith. That, also, is a gift from God. Ask God for it. Start with the basics: ask Him to make His presence real to you and to give you faith--faith in His existence and faith in His willingness to answer prayers. He will answer you. Over time, it becomes easier because we see how God has led us in the past.

 

[woobadooba]

thanks sophia for sharing that. what I still don't understand is “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV) does it mean keep praying even when we think our prayer has not been answered, to keep going because if we stop we will not get answered ? but it says in order for your prayer to be answered pray then believe you have been answered and at that moment you have then you will some time later receive that answered prayer. So why then if we prayed and believed it and it was answered should we need to pray again ? “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV) is this maybe speaking generally ? not about specific requests but praying in general ? is that what you are talking about ? do you request something more than once ? or where you saying that you keep praying in general ?
thanks again

Prayer is not for God, but for us. In other words, we don't pray because God isn't aware of what we need even before we come to Him with our petitions. Rather, we pray without ceasing so that we won't cease to remember that God is an ever present help in a time of need.

Thus prayer works to strengthen our faith, and to build our trust and confidence in a God of deliverance. Moreover, it reminds us that we have someone to go to, to cast our cares on, because He cares for us. Finally, it is a means to enable our love for God, and each other to mature in righteousness as we grow in Christ's love which forever reaches out to those who are dear to His heart.