Why do Christians ask for things when they pray?

[Whatthedeuce]

I don't understand why a Christian would ask Yahweh for something while praying. For example, when a person gets sick, many people who know the patient or have heard of the situation will pray for the patient to get better and overcome the disease. However, if Yahweh is omniscient, then he would know everything about the situation and whether or not it would be best for the patient to recover regardless of whether people pray or not. In these sorts of situations, how are the Christians doing anything other than waste their time by praying for the person to get better?

 

[aiki]

I don't understand why a Christian would ask Yahweh for something while praying. For example, when a person gets sick, many people who know the patient or have heard of the situation will pray for the patient to get better and overcome the disease. However, if Yahweh is omniscient, then he would know everything about the situation and whether or not it would be best for the patient to recover regardless of whether people pray or not. In these sorts of situations, how are the Christians doing anything other than waste their time by praying for the person to get better?

Well, we don't know if it is better or not for the person to be healed. All we know is that our loved one is ill and we want him to get better. And so we pray that he would get better. Doing so doesn't ignore what you've explained above: God may do the opposite in His divine perfectness and not heal our loved one, but that, it is understood, is always His divine prerogative.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he explained things to them this way:

Matthew 6:7-10
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

I find myself often simply praying "God, your will be done" for the very reason you point at in your question. God knows every situation far, far better than I do and understands exactly what best to do at all times.

Does this mean Christians should not ask their Heavenly Father for anything? No, the Bible doesn't teach that. In fact, Jesus continues in his demonstration to his disciples of correct prayer by requesting of God a number of things:

Matthew 6:11-13
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

This is in accordance with the following principle of prayer Christ taught:

John 14:13-14
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

And this principle is qualified by what the apostle John wrote in his first letter to first-century Christians:

1 John 5:14-15
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Jesus also taught the following concerning prayer:

Luke 11:9-13
9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

Why do we ask God for anything when He already knows what is best? Because prayer is not for God's benefit but for ours. It is in prayer that we acknowledge God's central and vital role in all things; in prayer we remind ourselves of His character, power, and provision; in prayer we confess our utter dependency upon Him; in prayer we commune with God as we must commune with anyone with whom we wish to have a relationship; in prayer faith in God is exercised and strengthened. Thus it is that prayer is so vital an element of each Christian's walk with God.

Selah.

 

[Jpark]

Never mind.

 

[ebia]

I don't understand why a Christian would ask Yahweh for something while praying. For example, when a person gets sick, many people who know the patient or have heard of the situation will pray for the patient to get better and overcome the disease. However, if Yahweh is omniscient, then he would know everything about the situation and whether or not it would be best for the patient to recover regardless of whether people pray or not. In these sorts of situations, how are the Christians doing anything other than waste their time by praying for the person to get better?

Do you talk to the people you love about your concerns only if you expect them to fix the outcome?

 

[drich0150]

I don't understand why a Christian would ask Yahweh for something while praying. For example, when a person gets sick, many people who know the patient or have heard of the situation will pray for the patient to get better and overcome the disease. However, if Yahweh is omniscient, then he would know everything about the situation and whether or not it would be best for the patient to recover regardless of whether people pray or not. In these sorts of situations, how are the Christians doing anything other than waste their time by praying for the person to get better?

God maybe Omniscient, but "we" on the other hand are not. In these cases Prayer is more for the person praying, than it is for God understanding of a given situation.

Prayer offers hope, those who can live a life detached from the people or things in that life may see an exercise in hope as a waist of time. God on the other hand being Omniscient knows not all of us can live a detached life. God has provided a way (In prayer) for all of those who seek hope.

If you truly want to know why people pray for Hope ask God to show you what it is to need Hope.

 

[Sketcher]

Prayer isn't about educating God about our status. He obviously knows it already. It's a relational gesture, and God wants good relationships with people.

 

[Whatthedeuce]

O.K. so are you guys saying that when people ask for others to be helped it only benefits the person praying?

edit: this question is directed at aiki, Jpark, and drich0150. They are the ones who appear to have made this claim

This question was actually motivated by an event that happened in my life. A few weeks ago, I was speaking to one of my Christian friends and he was telling me about philanthropic activities his church ran. He said that he, and others in his church would participate in them regularly. Many of them were very good things that actually helped people in need. However, one of them was a project where members of his church went around door-to-door asking people what their problems were and then offering to pray for them. He said that his church had probably prayed for tens of thousands of people. When I heard this, it horrified me, because all that effort to pray for all of those people was effort that had been diverted away from actually helping people. If they didn't have that program, his church would have spent the time feeding the poor, working to help build communities, etc. Instead, they spent it asking people for their problems and praying for them.

By grouping this activity with philanthropic endeavors, and often doing it instead of activities that help people in a tangible way, it appeared as if the Church thought that it is actually helping people by praying for them.

Do you guys have any comments about this?

edit: In other words, from my point of view, this is a horrible program which prevents people in need from receiving help for their situation. I'm interested in any comments, but most specifically I want to know if the Christians on this forum agree or disagree that this program is very bad and why.

 

[Whatthedeuce]

Do you talk to the people you love about your concerns only if you expect them to fix the outcome?

No, I don't talk to people about my concerns only if I expect them to fix the outcome.

However, I would never ask someone I love for help if I thought that person would not at least try to help.

edit: For example, if I had a fight with a friend, I might go to my girlfriend and tell her what happened and that I was upset. However, I would not ask her for help to make the situation better unless I thought she was actually capable of and willing to help.

 

[razeontherock]

Here's a different answer to your thread title, and the basic concept:

God gave man dominion. He can't "do" anything without our permission! The way prayer works, is we give God permission to do what he already wants to do anyway. The best way to do that is to find what He wants stated in the Bible. Try it!

 

[ebia]

O.K. so are you guys saying that when people ask for others to be helped it only benefits the person praying?

No, I'm answering your question with another question.

This question was actually motivated by an event that happened in my life. A few weeks ago, I was speaking to one of my Christian friends and he was telling me about philanthropic activities his church ran. He said that he, and others in his church would participate in them regularly. Many of them were very good things that actually helped people in need. However, one of them was a project where members of his church went around door-to-door asking people what their problems were and then offering to pray for them. He said that his church had probably prayed for tens of thousands of people. When I heard this, it horrified me, because all that effort to pray for all of those people was effort that had been diverted away from actually helping people. If they didn't have that program, his church would have spent the time feeding the poor, working to help build communities, etc. Instead, they spent it asking people for their problems and praying for them.

Prayer is participation in God's Kingdom building. Praying without being prepared to be part of God's solution is bording on blaspehmous, but prayer isn't a mechanistic thing, its a relationships thing. Prayer and action go together, they aren't to weighed off against each other.

 

[Whatthedeuce]

No, I'm answering your question with another question.

Sorry, when I said "you guys" I was referring to aiki, Jpark, and drich0150. I will go back and edit that post to make it more clear.

Prayer is participation in God's Kingdom building. Praying without being prepared to be part of God's solution is bording on blaspehmous, but prayer isn't a mechanistic thing, its a relationships thing. Prayer and action go together, they aren't to weighed off against each other.

I'm not sure how this relates to the activities of my friend's church. Could you please elaborate?

edit: Also, I don't know what the phrase "weighed off against" means.

 

[razeontherock]

True! Let's give him a bit of Scripture to ponder: "if you see someone cold and hungry and say to him 'be warm and filled, go in peace' but don't give him the things he needs how does the love of God dwell in you?"

That was written by someone who grew up in Jesus's own house. Same Mother, different Father. Jesus younger half-brother, James. He really gets down to business!

Know what his nick-name was?

"Camel knees." Because he spent so much time in prayer, it literally affected his knees. What can you conclude?

But you're right, if this Church you ask about had the means to do good but didn't do it, then they'd be guilty of violating this Scripture. I think your concern comes from a good heart! But something tells me they had this under a little better control ..

 

[DArceri]

Think about it this way, if God wills (determines) that His followers should come to faith through the means of preaching His Word (ie. the Great Commision), why is it so hard to believe that God can't use our prayers to accomplish His will also. Didn't Jesus command us to pray. Are we not told to pray unceasingly. IOW, God uses our prayers just like he uses our evangelism of His Word.

 

[Whatthedeuce]

Here's a different answer to your thread title, and the basic concept:

God gave man dominion. He can't "do" anything without our permission! The way prayer works, is we give God permission to do what he already wants to do anyway. The best way to do that is to find what He wants stated in the Bible. Try it!

O.K. so before I comment further, I am going to ask you if I understand correctly. To me this is what it appears you are saying:

Yahweh cannot do anything unless a human gives him permission first.

Is this correct? If it is not, could you explain what you really meant?

 

[Whatthedeuce]

But you're right, if this Church you ask about had the means to do good but didn't do it, then they'd be guilty of violating this Scripture. I think your concern comes from a good heart! But something tells me they had this under a little better control ..

The Church has a lot of good philanthropic programs which help people in tangible ways. Most of their programs are of this sort. Only one of them involves praying for random people who live near the Church. If they scrapped this praying program, then the time the people spent contributing to the prayer program would be devoted to the programs that actually help people. There would be a little more work done to build new homes, more people collecting and distributing food to the poor, a better run senior center, etc. The loss would be that the people who live near the church would not have their problems prayed for.

So, the Church does a lot of good things. However, it has the means to do more, but chooses to pray instead. Given this information, what is your opinion?

 

[ebia]

Sorry, when I said "you guys" I was referring to aiki, Jpark, and drich0150. I will go back and edit that post to make it more clear.

Fair enough.

I'm not sure how this relates to the activities of my friend's church. Could you please elaborate

edit: Also, I don't know what the phrase "weighed off against" means.

I just mean that they can't be an either/or but they need to be a both/and.

We need to be involved in both praying for a better world and working to make that a reality. Trying to build God's Kingdom without aligning ourselves with it in prayer doesn't work. Trying to align oneself in prayer but then not following that through in action is a nonsense.

Going door to door offering prayer is not a bad thing, and even in immediate practical terms will bring comfort to some of those people. But when what they want prayer for happens to be something you can help with then one ought to regard oneself as God's answer to the prayer and get in there and do it.

 

[Whatthedeuce]

Think about it this way, if God wills (determines) that His followers should come to faith through the means of preaching His Word (ie. the Great Commision), why is it so hard to believe that God can't use our prayers to accomplish His will also. Didn't Jesus command us to pray. Are we not told to pray unceasingly. IOW, God uses our prayers just like he uses our evangelism of His Word.

I never said that Christians have a hard time believing Yahweh uses prayers to accomplish his will.

Are you saying that Christians pray to Yahweh because he uses the prayers of Christians to accomplish his will?

 

[Whatthedeuce]

We need to be involved in both praying for a better world and working to make that a reality. Trying to build God's Kingdom without aligning ourselves with it in prayer doesn't work. Trying to align oneself in prayer but then not following that through in action is a nonsense.

So, then does aligning oneself with "Yahweh's Kingdom" in prayer include asking strangers specific questions about their lives and then praying for their alleged problems? Is praying for strangers' problems important enough to divert real efforts that could help people in need?

Going door to door offering prayer is not a bad thing, and even in immediate practical terms will bring comfort to some of those people. But when what they want prayer for happens to be something you can help with then one ought to regard oneself as God's answer to the prayer and get in there and do it.

While it may annoy some people, I don't think that going door to door offering prayer is a bad thing. However, I do think that diverting philanthropic activities away from helping people in need is a bad thing. The aspect of this program that I think makes it bad, is it takes away from effort that would otherwise be used to help people in real, tangible ways. I want to make that point clear.

 

[DArceri]

I never said that Christians have a hard time believing Yahweh uses prayers to accomplish his will.

Are you saying that Christians pray to Yahweh because he uses the prayers of Christians to accomplish his will?

YESSSSS.....In God's infinite wisdom, scripture reveals to us that God not only accomplishes His purposes in the lives of individuals by the sending of messengers (O.T and N.T), but also by the godly prayers of those who believe in His Name (O.T. and N.T). BTW, it is the Spirit of God who moves us to pray anyway, so essentially, any answered prayer is due to God accomplishing His will !!!!!!



.

 

[Whatthedeuce]

YESSSSS.....In God's infinite wisdom, scripture reveals to us that God not only accomplishes His purposes in the lives of individuals by the sending of messengers (O.T and N.T), but also by the godly prayers of those who believe in His Name (O.T. and N.T). BTW, it is the Spirit of God who moves us to pray anyway, so essentially, any answered prayer is due to God accomplishing His will !!!!!!

Since Yahweh uses the prayers of Christians to accomplish his will, then would Yahweh be weakened if Christians stopped praying? His available methods which he is capable of using to accomplish his will would certainly have decreased.

If a person gets sick and a Christian who has never met the patient prays for the patient to get better, is the sick person more likely to recover? Yahweh would certainly have more tools with which to help the sick person.