Question about prayer

[Ms.]

As I grow older and see what's going on in the world today, I've strengthened my relationship with God because we don't know when that time is going to come and I want to be ready in my heart when it does. The New testament speaks of prayer and praying for others. As christians, we know that when two or more are gathered together, there He will be in the midst. We also know and understand that prayer works, it's our communication line to God. Do we have a right to pick and choose our prayers?
What I mean is, can we refuse to pray for a lost soul?
To be more specific, I asked a family member if they would pray for another family member due to the effects of mental illness. The response was "no". Followed by, "they hurt me and I'm not going to do it". I was very surprised, because they too have told me that they have recently rededicated themselves back to the Christian walk and spend a lot of the day playing praise music, watching Christian programs, and reading the bible. Now I pray for the family who refused to pray as well as the one affected with poor mental health.

 

[Brad D.]

As I grow older and see what's going on in the world today, I've strengthened my relationship with God because we don't know when that time is going to come and I want to be ready in my heart when it does. The New testament speaks of prayer and praying for others. As christians, we know that when two or more are gathered together, there He will be in the midst. We also know and understand that prayer works, it's our communication line to God. Do we have a right to pick and choose our prayers?
What I mean is, can we refuse to pray for a lost soul?
To be more specific, I asked a family member if they would pray for another family member due to the effects of mental illness. The response was "no". Followed by, "they hurt me and I'm not going to do it". I was very surprised, because they too have told me that they have recently rededicated themselves back to the Christian walk and spend a lot of the day playing praise music, watching Christian programs, and reading the bible. Now I pray for the family who refused to pray as well as the one affected with poor mental health.

To truly become a vessel of prayer requires knowing what it means to lose our life for His sake in this world in order that we may find it in Him. Then we will lose all notions of praying out from ourselves, desiring only to pray what is truly out from Him. When I come to the Lord and pray, I may pray something simple starting out like, "Lord please empty me of all my thoughts of what I think I should pray, and fill me only with that which I should ." I usually continue petitioning Him in that way, desiring with all my Heart for Him to find a vessel on this earth in me that He could fill with His thoughts and His words that He may speak forth through me whatever is true, whatever is really needed, whatever is truly of Him. What this world needs most now is that which is truly prayed in the power of His Spirit. Prayers like that have the power, the authenticity in the them to touch the ends of the world. But prayers prayed out from ourselves most often never leave the room.

I think it is commendable the Lord has put a seed in you to be one who prays. I will pray it grows and prospers becoming more and more what is purely of Him.

 

[Ken-1122]

Why do Christians pray? I’m not talking about the type of prayer of thanking God for this or that, I’m talking about the type of prayer about getting things done? If a loved one is sick, if I’m trying to get a job, if I am going on a long trip and the prayer is about safety, God who knows everything already knows if your prayer will be answered, right?
Let’s say God has decided the outcome is what you prayed for; in this case praying is basically asking God to do what he has already decided to do; which is useless.
Let’s say God has decided the outcome is NOT what you prayed for; in this case you are asking God to do something that is against his will in order to please you. Isn’t this arrogant? Am I missing something here?

 

[Tolworth John]

Why do Christians pray? I’m not talking about the type of prayer of thanking God for this or that, I’m talking about the type of prayer about getting things done? If a loved one is sick, if I’m trying to get a job, if I am going on a long trip and the prayer is about safety, God who knows everything already knows if your prayer will be answered, right?
Let’s say God has decided the outcome is what you prayed for; in this case praying is basically asking God to do what he has already decided to do; which is useless.
Let’s say God has decided the outcome is NOT what you prayed for; in this case you are asking God to do something that is against his will in order to please you. Isn’t this arrogant? Am I missing something here?

Christian pray about lifes incidents because of Phil4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Yes ones prayers may be going against what God has already planned, we don't know the details of Gods plan for us, so we pray rather selfishly for what we want.

 

[Marumorose]

As I grow older and see what's going on in the world today, I've strengthened my relationship with God because we don't know when that time is going to come and I want to be ready in my heart when it does. The New testament speaks of prayer and praying for others. As christians, we know that when two or more are gathered together, there He will be in the midst. We also know and understand that prayer works, it's our communication line to God. Do we have a right to pick and choose our prayers?
What I mean is, can we refuse to pray for a lost soul?
To be more specific, I asked a family member if they would pray for another family member due to the effects of mental illness. The response was "no". Followed by, "they hurt me and I'm not going to do it". I was very surprised, because they too have told me that they have recently rededicated themselves back to the Christian walk and spend a lot of the day playing praise music, watching Christian programs, and reading the bible. Now I pray for the family who refused to pray as well as the one affected with poor mental health.

We have to pray for each and every person. Imagine if God picked and chose who forgive and he chose not to forgive you! Praying for someone also helps us
James 5:19-20 says "My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins."
May God Bless You

 

[Ken-1122]

Yes ones prayers may be going against what God has already planned, we don't know the details of Gods plan for us, so we pray rather selfishly for what we want.

Is it good to be selfish that way? Wouldn't it be better to trust what ever plan God has will work out for the better

 

[Brad D.]

Is it good to be selfish that way? Wouldn't it be better to trust what ever plan God has will work out for the better

As to my own prayer life I pray very few things for myself these days. I am more concerned with what is out from Him, what is for His sake, what is His Spirit leading me to pray. I might pray something like, "Lord I bring my life to you this morning all that I have, all that I am, all that I do. Make in us what is best for your Son. Do in us what is best for your Son. Bring us through whatever is needed for your Son, Whatever the cost, Whatever we need to go through, Have your way with us precious Lord, that you could have a vessel on this earth that the life of your Son is manifested through, prayed through, lived through. Whatever is for the sake of your Kingdom - your will be done."

Since I note in your profile you are an atheist, I don't know how well you know the Bible if at all, but perhaps you have heard a quote from the Bible that expresses, " Very truly I tell you I will do whatever you ask in my name...You may ask anything in My name and I will do it." ( John 14:13-14 ) What the Lord is saying here is not to think of that as the magic words, the magic formula, and as long as we say In Jesus Name I pray to end our prayers it will be done. The fact is many prayers spoken like that have never been done. He is saying rather when you come to me align your prayers with me, Pray in the Spirit, Pray in me and through me. So, In my name means prayers truly spoken through His Spirit, His life within us. If we touch the heavenly life that way in our prayers then its those prayers that truly have the capacity to touch the world.

The Lord Himself did " Nothing out of His own initiative." while on this earth, but did "Only that which He saw His Father doing." And when He prayed He continually denied Himself anything He would have desired to pray at that moment and prayed rather " Father not my will but your will be done." That is the way I believe He taught us to pray. That is the heart He is after in us in prayer.

As to your question why do Christians pray in the first place? It is a valid question. The Lord is the Lord after all. Why does He need us then to pray? The Short answer is He doesn't, but He has made it so that He does and made it so that He responds when we do. Prayer is one of the great mysteries and disciplines of the Christian faith. It involves entering into something with Him in the Spirit, agreeing with something with Him in the Spirit, being united with Him in something with the Spirit, And when we do that it moves Him, it touches Him, He describes our prayers as a "Fragrant offering" to Him. It is why He gave us a free will. And it is powerful when we exercise it to unite it with His own. No man on earth can probably explain it much beyond that. We even as Christians are told, " We only know in part, and see in part," There is so much even in our own walk we have to take by faith. He promises though one day we will know in full.

I would liken then Christianity and the disciplines of Christianity to say perhaps something in your own life that was difficult for you to understand at first, but something drew you to it to try it out and get involved in it, and as you did you grew in it, you began to see it like you never saw it before, but it took that first step to come to know it like you did, and you were so happy that you pushed through and stepped through that door and and all your questions about it and entered in. For you perhaps it was a course of study you took, a trade, a relationship, travels somewhere, there are probably many things like that in our earthly life that somehow mirror (though dimly) that we have come to know as Christians in the Spiritual journey.

I will pray for you Ken, may God keep drawing you to ask and inquire until one day He draws you in, and then you will see as we do you have entered the door of something very special.

 

[Tolworth John]

Is it good to be selfish that way? Wouldn't it be better to trust what ever plan God has will work out for the better

If we were pefect tghen yes that would make more sence, but we are not and we worry over all sorts of things.

So is prayer just therapy for insecure people? Yes and no, many people get comfort through prayer, but as I posted earlier we are told to take our requests to God, so praying about our problems is a part of being a Christian.

 

[Ken-1122]

As to my own prayer life I pray very few things for myself these days. I am more concerned with what is out from Him, what is for His sake, what is His Spirit leading me to pray. I might pray something like, "Lord I bring my life to you this morning all that I have, all that I am, all that I do. Make in us what is best for your Son. Do in us what is best for your Son. Bring us through whatever is needed for your Son, Whatever the cost, Whatever we need to go through, Have your way with us precious Lord, that you could have a vessel on this earth that the life of your Son is manifested through, prayed through, lived through. Whatever is for the sake of your Kingdom - your will be done."

So what do you think of those who pray that an injured person in the hospital gets better, or other such prayers concerning specific requests? Are they going about it the wrong way?

 

[Brad D.]

So what do you think of those who pray that an injured person in the hospital gets better, or other such prayers concerning specific requests? Are they going about it the wrong way?

No Jesus Himself prayed for those who were sick at times and healed many, but even then I think He was after something far deeper than just chasing after Him for miracles. He said as much at times. And there were likewise many He didn't heal in His day.

I think the important thing for the Christian is to get a sense of what the Lord is really after in the moment, know the times and seasons so to speak, get alone with Him and simply pray what the Spirit leads. That can be different things for different people.

In my own life I have health issues that have plagued me for years, but I do not pray for my own healing, because I see how these these things have benefited me Spiritually far more than they ever would have by physically having them removed. I see it from His hand in other words, and my sense is to pray for the inner strength they bring, rather than the outward deliverance and rest they would bring my body and mind. But likewise there have been times that I have prayed for others physical health as I was so led at the time to do, and would never condemn others for doing so. It can be an incredibly difficult trying time to see someone you love lay there sick and dying.

It was really painful in my own mother's death to watch her go through that. But I was assured with the utmost assurance that what I really needed to pray for her was not healing, but some long needed inner wounds to heal as I was sure the Lord was preparing to take her home. And in the last months before she died I saw some real breakthroughs. I think she came a long way. And I can only pray I did her greater service trying to prepare her spiritually than, I would have done trying to preserve her physically, But nevertheless it was a painful process for me, especially in the times I'm sure she and others wondered why I wasn't praying the same way everyone else was.

I hope this helps.

 

[partinobodycular]

When I come to the Lord and pray, I may pray something simple starting out like, "Lord please empty me of all my thoughts of what I think I should pray, and fill me only with that which I should ." I usually continue petitioning Him in that way, desiring with all my Heart for Him to find a vessel on this earth in me that He could fill with His thoughts and His words that He may speak forth through me whatever is true, whatever is really needed, whatever is truly of Him. What this world needs most now is that which is truly prayed in the power of His Spirit. Prayers like that have the power, the authenticity in the them to touch the ends of the world. But prayers prayed out from ourselves most often never leave the room.

Some people would simply call this meditation clothed in religiosity. Its benefits don't come from without, they come from within. You're just using God as a means of invoking a state of tranquility and reflection that you're perfectly capable of achieving without Him.

Now that's all well and good, to each their own, but in such cases, one man's God is just as effective as anyone else's, as long as they have humility enough to listen.

 

[Brad D.]

Some people would simply call this meditation clothed in religiosity. Its benefits don't come from without, they come from within. You're just using God as a means of invoking a state of tranquility and reflection that you're perfectly capable of achieving without Him.

Now that's all well and good, to each their own, but in such cases, one man's God is just as effective as anyone else's, as long as they have humility enough to listen.

For the Christian Jesus says He is, " The way, the truth and the Life." (John 14:6) So in prayer I'm not trying to come into some kind of state of tranquility and reflection as you might think of that, I am desiring to come into that which is true and that which is life, knowing that apart from Him I cannot touch what is really true, what is really essential, what is really life.

That is the humility a Christian comes to, knowing that he has come into contact with, had an encounter with something unlike any other. He has come into reality, God has made Himself known, and once He has encountered who God really is, everything else must go, because he has come into that which is true. Perhaps it would be helpful to read the encounter Paul had on the road to Damascus as it relates to this (Acts 9:3-9). If any man believed in his own convictions and felt entitled to them before that encounter it was Paul. But once he had a true encounter with God all that he thought he knew vanished, and he would later say he lost all for the sake of knowing Christ and considered it dung, for the sake of knowing and sharing in the life of that which he now knew was true.

So as for me in my prayer life, the last place I want to be is in a tranquil reflective state listening to the processes of my own mind or the spirit of another. The only place I desire to be is to be in communion with, in fellowship with, that which I now know to be true, that which is real, that which is essential, that which is life.

Hope this helps. Something must be drawing you here, or else it wouldn't matter to you what a Christian thought anyway. I pray you will find the answers soon.

 

[partinobodycular]

Hope this helps.

It informs, so perhaps I can at least be thankful for that. But it also saddens me that you would think this way. There are so many others who's virtues far overshadow my own, how foolish would it be of me to dismiss them for want of a name. What could possibly make me think that in God's eyes their prayers aren't just as deserving as mine...simply because they utter them under the wrong name?

Something must be drawing you here, or else it wouldn't matter to you what a Christian thought anyway.

See below.

I pray you will find the answers soon.

And I will pray the same prayer that I have always prayed...Thy will be done.

 

[Brad D.]

It informs, so perhaps I can at least be thankful for that. But it also saddens me that you would think this way. There are so many others who's virtues far overshadow my own, how foolish would it be of me to dismiss them for want of a name. What could possibly make me think that in God's eyes their prayers aren't just as deserving as mine...simply because they utter them under the wrong name?

You are perhaps further from your stated beliefs than you might realize. For lets not kid ourselves what is happening here. I didn't come to an Agnostic board to tell you you were wrong, you came to a Christian board to tell me I was wrong. It is idealistic to feel more virtuous than others because you feel you are more inclusive and respectful of others. But the reality is you took the time to come and sign up to a Christian Forum and in a sense tell the 2.2 billion Christians (according to world data) on this earth that how they pray and their concept of prayer is wrong. One of the tenets of the Christian faith is that Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, so if they come to prayer, like that, then this saddens you. So that is over 25% of the world's population of 7.7 billion people that saddens you.

I suppose I could go to other religions and see if you are really as comfortable with them as you say. In that case you would have to be comfortable with a Hindu Caste system, that would put you in the uncomfortable spot of having to tell someone that they would be in a better station in life if only they had done better in the life before. Would you be ok telling someone that? I think there are an estimated 1 billion Hindus in the world.

So you see I guess I could go on, but in the end the world that you said in your quote you would be "foolish to dismiss" has just been reduced or dismissed to a very small percentage of what you originally thought was included.

Look I make no apologies for God. He is who He is. His word is what it is. I would just leave you with this. Christianity is like climbing Everest or planning to visit a far off country that you've never been to. You can read about it, study it from afar, form all kinds of opinions about it, but until you go there and climb that mountain, or visit that country you really haven't experienced it, been immersed in it, had any sort of real life exposure to it to really know it, to really understand how it really is. Perhaps you have found this true in some area of your life. Once you know God, and know Him and how He desires to be known, you come into something that is very real, and very different than anything you imagined it to be.

How do you come to this mountain, this far off country? He leads you to it. You said you have been praying to know His will. Well, you are here. This is that mountain. Perhaps your prayers have been answered and He has led you to this very spot. I wish you well in your journey my friend. He waits for you when you are ready.

 

[partinobodycular]

He waits for you when you are ready.

What makes you think that you're more of a Christian than I am?

 

[jacks]

What I mean is, can we refuse to pray for a lost soul?

We have free will and can of course pray for whom we like. However, it seems strange to me that someone would have enough faith to pray, but can't find it in their hearts to forgive. You praying for both of them seems the right thing to do.

 

[partinobodycular]

Something must be drawing you here, or else it wouldn't matter to you what a Christian thought anyway. I pray you will find the answers soon.

I've seen this sentiment expressed many times, but it seems rather naive to me. It would be like a pro-life advocate going to a pro-choice forum ostensibly to argue against abortion, while in reality they're there out of some innate desire to be pro-choice. It's just not a logical conclusion. But if it gives you consolation, then absolutely, go with it.

 

[jayem]

Some people would simply call this meditation clothed in religiosity. Its benefits don't come from without, they come from within. You're just using God as a means of invoking a state of tranquility and reflection that you're perfectly capable of achieving without Him.

Now that's all well and good, to each their own, but in such cases, one man's God is just as effective as anyone else's, as long as they have humility enough to listen.

Correct. Prayer invokes the relaxation response. Studies have shown that it lowers heart and respiratory rates, and decreases blood pressure. It eases muscle tension, and reduces levels of stress hormones. Prayer also has a psychological benefit. It gives the person praying a sense that s(he) is doing something worthwhile. Example: In reality, there is little or nothing you can do to change the outcome if a friend or family member is desperately ill. But--if you believe in the power of prayer--praying for his recovery provides a feeling that you're helping. You're in his corner and doing what you can. For the believer, thoughts and prayers bolster hope and give some peace of mind.

 

[Ken-1122]

Correct. Prayer invokes the relaxation response. Studies have shown that it lowers heart and respiratory rates, and decreases blood pressure. It eases muscle tension, and reduces levels of stress hormones.

Perhaps that depends on the person praying. I've seen people get so "worked up" during prayer that those bodily functions drastically increase rather than decrease.

In reality, there is little or nothing you can do to change the outcome if a friend or family member is desperately ill. But--if you believe in the power of prayer--praying for his recovery provides a feeling that you're helping. You're in his corner and doing what you can. For the believer, thoughts and prayers bolster hope and give some peace of mind.

Is it your view that prayer doesn't really accomplish anything except make the person praying feel better about the situation, and gives the person being prayed for false hope?

 

[Lukaris]

I believe anyone who has a general hope for the well being of their fellow humans shows a necessary & basic positive attitude. Upon becoming Christian, I realized my conscience is conflicted & I need the Lord to set my conscience right ( 1 Timothy 1:5).

We need a healthy disposition to live life as best we can for ourselves & others ( I know I do). I rejoice in the great hope of salvation St. Paul lays out in Romans 8. I also take into account ( for ex.) what the Lord sums up in the golden rule ( Matthew 7:12) & what it entails ( Matthew 7:1-12) how God tries to reach the conscience of everyone ( Romans 2). Then it is also healthy to remember what St. Paul says for us to stay faithful ( Romans 11:22-23).

Our actions and our prayers go hand in hand as the Lord clearly preaches in Matthew 6:1-15. We are called to pray for the salvation of everyone ( our neighbor) as per 1 Timothy 2:1-6.