prayer

[Musician4Jesus]

I put this in christian Philosophy and Ethics by accident. I meant to post it here. Anyway, here goes.....

I did something yesterday I haven't done in years which is praying to God. The only thing I knew for sure was that he was there. Yes I'm a Christian.

However I didn't really have faith with my prayer nor did I know how to believe God has good things in store for me. I know you're supposed to have faith in God and believe his promises, but honestly I don't know how to do either at this point. I dont' really trust him either.

The only thing I could really do was be honest. I'm wondering if it was completely pointless to prayer. I got sort of emotional but it's just because the prayer inevitably ended up exposing all my problems in my life (which currently IS my life right now). I get upset whenever this happens. Despite prayer to God, I'm still angry with him and I still don't trust him. When a friend betrays you, you don't just trust them instantly again; it takes time.

Such is the case with God and I. The prayer was basically I need financial help. Somebody listening to me and being my friend are both great, as is offering advice. However I need more than that right now. I need somebody to help me.

I'm wondering if the prayer was completely pointless. All I really had to offer was honesty.

 

[DrFrank]

These two problems "Despite prayer to God, I'm still angry with him and I still don't trust him" are spiritual "fatal flaws".God requires us to have total trust and faith in Him and my experience has been that He refuses to respond to people who are angry at Him.

It's important to start pretty much from scratch to re-build a faithful and loving relationship with God so that you can obtain answers to your prayers.

 

[Musician4Jesus]

You are honestly going to tell me that no christian who has ever prayed has never doubted him or had trouble trusting him or had lack of faith in him? I'm sorry I don't believe that. As sincere as a Christian is with prayer, you're always going to struggle with having faith in God, because it's part of human nature. Just because we love God, doesn't mean our sinful nature just goes away.

Does God want me to lie to him and say I trust him when I don't? That's a slap to his face and the ultimate form of disrespect in regards to God as far as I'm concerned. I also don't see how being angry with God is sinning. Anger in and of itself isn't sinful; sinning in anger is. The Bible doesn't say that just being angry is sinful. If anger were sinful then God has sinned, because he has expressed wrath and anger as well. I'm not saying God has sinned, I'm just making a point.

 

[alan650]

There have been times when I had anger towards God as well. We can feel every single emotion in our walk with God as we would towards any human I believe. It all comes down to us being aware of who God really is and what He truly desires from us which IS A PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM and REPENTING OF OUR SINFUL NATURE DAILY. There will be ups and downs. Joys and sadnesses. Restlessness and perhaps anger too.

As to your prayer, if you were sincere about it and are sincere about God then I think you may just be starting a walk with him. As for your financial issues, that is all up to God. If you sincerely want to make the attempt to know him through scriptures I suggest Romans first and foremost. In my opinion, it is one of the most "complete" books of the Bible on what it truly means to walk with God.

 

[Musician4Jesus]

Don't make assumptions when you don't even know me and what I've been thru in my walk with God. I've been a Christian for quite some time actually-9 years. I don't need to hear about refinement, persecution, and sanctifcation. I know all about them and what purposes they serve; that's what most of my walk with God has been. The gist of it is "God allows us to go thru sanctifcation to make us more like God". The gist of refinement and persecution are "God allows to go thru these trials to test our faith and to see how much we love him....what we're willing to endure for him". Does that about sum it up? The end of the message is "There is a season for everything, but eventually bad times pass, and it all works out for the good of those who love him". I don't believe the 2nd part because it has yet to become a reality in my life. As soon as good things start to occur in my life, something without fail happens to wreck the impending prosperity before it occurs or things just become worse and I end up right back where I started as soon the good occurred.


My attitude sucks and I hate my life because I cannot catch a break no matter what I do. I've TRIED to believe God would provide for me, but things still didn't become better; they backfired or became worse or didn't improve or I ended up back where I started (or all of these things or a combination of some of them).

I might actually believe God has good things in store for me and for my future if it would become a reality. I'm so sick and tired of hearing wait on God's timing and things will work out. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR 9 YEARS! In the grand scheme of things, that's nothing, but I don't have eternal patience! I'm not God!

I've tried to get to know God and I've been thru tons of stuff for him. Compared to what others have been thru it pales in comparison but I don't play the comparison game with my problems. It doesn't mitigate the impact they're having on my life (and the impact is in a negative way). I don't know how to be positive when nothing is going right. Just because it's everybody else's forte doesn't mean it's going to be mine; I can try till I'm blue-in-the-face to be good with it, but it's never going to be my strength, even with God's help. I don't have hope that things will get better nor do I even try to have hope things will get better. This is because all I'm accustomed to is things going wrong. So as a result getting my hopes up just makes it hurt even worse when things don't go right which is basically the story-of-my-life.

I've also tried to use the opportunities God made available to me but trying is pointless. When I try nothing goes right no matter how hard I try. I believe you're supposed to use the opportunities God makes available to you and I've tried to do that and still nothing comes of it.

Many people have offered the advice of "get a job". However I live in a very small town; there aren't many jobs available and what jobs are available people who have lived here for ages already have them secured for when they come to visit. The other jobs that are available, I don't have the qualifications for; I have little job experience, no professional experience, and no college education. I cannot gain experience unless somebody is willing to hire somebody with no experience and nobody is. I've put in more apps than I can count and followed up about jobs I've inquired about; I've also went to interviews......nothing has worked.

I'm doing this because I don't know what else to do. I know that life is about more than materialism and how much money you make. Unfortunately in order to be self-sufficient you need to have money and an income; this is a necessary evil. I don't need to live in a mansion and drive a limo to be happy, nor do I need to live in some exotic hotspot that is world-renowned. I just want to be self-sufficient. When God refers to plans to prosper you and not to harm you, I believe he's talking about the physical aspect of it as well as the spiritual aspect (providing for your physical needs). I have my physical needs provided for, but I cannot provide for myself.

 

[Auburn88]

I put this in christian Philosophy and Ethics by accident. I meant to post it here. Anyway, here goes.....

I did something yesterday I haven't done in years which is praying to God. The only thing I knew for sure was that he was there. Yes I'm a Christian.

"Musician4Jesus", but you haven't prayed in "years"?

So how do you reconcile those two contradicting things?

 

[Musician4Jesus]

I don't really understand what you mean in all honesty. However in regards to prayer I haven't prayed in years because I believe if the prayer is going to insincere you shouldn't pray to God at all; that is very disrespectful to him if you ask me.

There is something in Scripture that says "They pray to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me". I know that's not the exact passage, I paraphrased it. I'm not sure exactly where it's at in the Bible, but I know it's there.

Although I still have no trust in God and still don't have faith in him, my prayer was honest and I tried to be as sincere about it as I could. In the back of my mind I had doubts regarding it, but I'm human so I'm going to doubt. I don't care how long you've been a Christian, how deep your faith, and/or how long you've been one, people are always going to struggle with doubt because it's part of human nature; our sinful nature doesn't go away because we become a Christian, if such were the case then we wouldn't need to depend on God and have a relationship with him in the first place. It would be completely unnecessary.

 

[Auburn88]

Although I still have no trust in God and still don't have faith in him

Yeah, that pretty much says it all.

our sinful nature doesn't go away because we become a Christian

Actually, our sinful nature is crucified and we receive a new nature. It's called being born again and regeneration.

 

[Musician4Jesus]

Yeah that's called sanctification. However that's a lifelong process. We're never going to be God. Like I said before, just because we become a Christian doesn't mean our sinful nature just goes away. If such were the case, how come we're so prone to slip into temptation and sin? Because we are sinners. Feeding a cat veggies, doesn't change the fact that by it's very nature the cat will crave meat. Just because we desire to do the right thing, doesn't mean we will; we desire to do the right thing but we're going to sin anyway because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.


And what pretty much says it all? I still don't understand what you mean.

 

[alan650]

Yeah that's called sanctification. However that's a lifelong process. We're never going to be God. Like I said before, just because we become a Christian doesn't mean our sinful nature just goes away. If such were the case, how come we're so prone to slip into temptation and sin? Because we are sinners. Feeding a cat veggies, doesn't change the fact that by it's very nature the cat will crave meat. Just because we desire to do the right thing, doesn't mean we will; we desire to do the right thing but we're going to sin anyway because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.


And what pretty much says it all? I still don't understand what you mean.

You yourself said you have no trust in God so how exactly do you expect God to help you? All I see is someone ranting and raving about their life and wanting God to help them and all the while having no faith at all in the one they are praying to!

I see why your prayers haven't been answered because you have pretty much made up your mind that you aren't going to trust God and that God is the reason for your issues. I have no idea about your life but if you are going to turn to God you need to make a genuine effort to get to know him again. It seems as though He is like a distant friend to you that you have lost touch with and have forgotten what this friend is like. That is why you feel so much frustration and are getting nowhere with God.

Once again I suggest getting to know God again with an open mind and an open Bible. Get to know God again and I think you will at least get to a place where you can believe in the One you are praying to.

I say this with much love and hope you find your answers!!!

Love in Christ

Alan

 

[Comatose]

Many a Christian has doubted their faith before. What you need to do; pray! You may feel like God is not there, like he is not going to help you, but he is always there, he knows your future, and has a plan for your life, THAT I believe.

Also friend, this day and time, money trouble is a HUGE problem in our world. I'm sorry to say that, and I know I may be young to be talking about it, but I have a lot of talks with my father about this kinda stuff, but yeah, TRUST GOD with your money. Another thing, tithe! Give 10% of your earnings to God. I don't know if you do that or not, but God blesses those who tithe.

My friend, I understand what you are going through, I had a situation with someone who came into my life, my family accepted him and loved him and added him into our family, but he went nuts after the adoption and after a long time battling him, we took him to a Christian Counsiler and the counciler asked him if he was talking with demons and his answer, yes, and at that point the counciler said that anything he did wouldn't matter because he was so far into the demons. I asked God, "Why allow someone like this to go crazy like he did" and I struggled with it for a long time, but after talking WITH God (Not acting like we were enemies), my youth pastor, and my parents, I came to the conclusion that God has a plan for everyone, and he knows what will happen in your future, but he doesn't want to control you, he made humans with the ability to make choices on our own, when we accept him, he is overjoyed, but when Satan gets a hold of someone, God weeps. But in the end, God makes "everything work together for the good of those who believe in him"

Hope that helps, if you have a question about anything, just PM me.
Comatose

 

[Johnnz]

Your honesty is great. Christians of long standing can question God too at times. So, you are not alone in that.

God does hear your prayers and understands why you prayed them. But he is not a heavenly Santa Claus, or good fairy as many of us have learned. Often financial issues are rooted in bad finacial decisions, or other circumstances which may or may not be beyond our direct control. Just getting some good financial advice may be an avenue to explore.

John
NZ

 

[MariaRegina]

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[razeontherock]

The only thing I could really do was be honest. I'm wondering if it was completely pointless

When a friend betrays you, you don't just trust them instantly again;

You're making progress! This is a WONDERFUL step for you to take (your OP I mean) but I wonder if you were REALLY honest?? Did you tell God how "He betrayed you?" Did you tell Him of your displeasure? Did you take Him to task on it?

Since you know He can see through insincerity, and you know these thoughts are in your heart ... you've really got to "pray through" this. So no, what you did wasn't pointless. I'm just pointing out you may need to go further

 

[Musician4Jesus]

Not to rude but for you (not razeontherock) to assume that I don't appreciate sanctification, refinement, and persecution is really rude and irritating.

I KNOW and appreciate the fact that they've deepened my faith in God, have helped me develop a deeper love for God, made me realize what "a treasure it is to even have a relationship with God" and that they're tests that are meant for my own good and God does it because he loves me.

However I'm just so sick and tired of that being all my life consisting of (which essentially it has been) and sick of that being all my walk with God has consisted of (which again by and large has been the majority of my walk with God).

In regards to why I think God has betrayed me. I think he's so busy blessing other ppl's lives that he's completely forgotten about me.
That the only 'great and wonderful plan he has for my life' is pain and sorrow and adversity because that's what my life has consisted of; I basically get to watch while others I know in my life, their goals become reality or their lives improve (or both) while mine just sit there and die.

The reason I believe this is because that's what my life has been so far.
I can't think of one goal I have that has actually become a reality.

I don't know what God wants me to do......I have various interests, any one of which I could use to serve God. However nothing has really come of it. It's just been "waiting on God's timing" which I've been doing for 10 years now.

I know God isn't a genie, the main part of my financial problems is the stupid economy and living in a small town which just exacerbates an already difficult situation. Unfortunately I don't really have any control over either of these things.

 

[razeontherock]

The poster that first told me about this place went through a "spiritual desert experience" for 13 years!?! I had never heard of that before, apart from the children of Israel wandering lost for 40 years. I think she might be able to help you in ways most can't? Look in dreams and visions, thread title "sheep dream." She's the OP ...

I can have compassion on your situation, but am at a loss for anything I think might be uplifting, beyond what I already posted. Please do take that to heart though - and tie a knot in the end of your rope and hang on!

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule." Matthew 5:3 - The Message

 

[Johnnz]

Sometimes life sucks. And God does not intervene with the necessary massive dose of divine reconstitution within the structures of a society. The Psalmist and some prophets struggled with this too at times.

John
NZ

 

[sbbqb7n16]

My attitude sucks and I hate my life because I cannot catch a break no matter what I do. I've TRIED to believe God would provide for me, but things still didn't become better; they backfired or became worse or didn't improve or I ended up back where I started (or all of these things or a combination of some of them).

What would catching a break look like for you? What would it mean for God to provide for you?

You say, God didn't provide for you, but I assume you still eat and have a roof over your head today - as you can afford an internet connection (or have a job that provides one).

Maybe you are underestimating the value of the small things in life. You have food, you have shelter, and hopefully you have people in your life that love you.

25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?g 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:25-34

I might actually believe God has good things in store for me and for my future if it would become a reality. I'm so sick and tired of hearing wait on God's timing and things will work out. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR 9 YEARS! In the grand scheme of things, that's nothing, but I don't have eternal patience! I'm not God!

yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
James 4:14

Many people have offered the advice of "get a job". However I live in a very small town; there aren't many jobs available and what jobs are available people who have lived here for ages already have them secured for when they come to visit. The other jobs that are available, I don't have the qualifications for; I have little job experience, no professional experience, and no college education. I cannot gain experience unless somebody is willing to hire somebody with no experience and nobody is. I've put in more apps than I can count and followed up about jobs I've inquired about; I've also went to interviews......nothing has worked.

Maybe you should move to a new city.

Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com each have thousands of job listings - just not likely in your area.

If things are truly that bad, what would keep you from moving to an area that has plenty of work?
Have you looked for work in a different city or even state?

 

[Musician4Jesus]

The small things in my life are blessings-in-disguise. I have no life of my own.
I'm broke; I have no source of income. I'm unable to contribute towards
household expenses (rent, utilities, etc.).

I might have a place to live but emotionally the living situation sucks; I feel like I'm constantly walking on eggshells. I may have a life, but it's not my own (as in I don't live on my own).

It's not feasible for me to just relocate to another state or another city due to financial issues. I have no savings, no assets.

In comparison to eternity my life is brief. However when I have to deal with all this BS that I've been dealing with for years, when you go through a difficult time, it seems like an eternity.