Prayer
One of the blogs I follow had a really long post today about prayer and the purpose of prayer. Her son is very sick and just went through major surgery and people all over the country have been praying for their family and she posted in response to some comments of the purpose of prayer. This is something I've often thought about so I thought I'd get some thoughts out here on my blog.
As someone who believes that everything is a part of God's sovereign plan, why pray? What good does it do? If God already has planned what will happen, will He change His mind if you pray enough for something different? Can He change His mind? If He knows what is best for us then why not just let Him do what He wants and trust that it is what was supposed to happen? Can prayer actually change the outcome of our circumstances or does it just change how we look at things?
These are tough questions, and I'm not sure I have the answers to all of them. I've struggled with these issues at several points in my life. First and foremost, we are commanded by God to pray, and that in and of itself is enough of a reason for me, but I'd really like more concrete answers to these questions.
Matthew 21:22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” (ESV)
Does this really mean that if we have faith, anything we pray for will happen??
James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (ESV)
1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing." (ESV)
Obviously, prayer is a very powerful thing, but does it actually change things?
There are examples all throughout Scripture that talk about God doing specific things because of the prayers of His people. For example: 1 Chronicles 5:20 " And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him." Would the outcome have been the same regardless of prayer or did the prayers cause the outcome?
I'm really not sure how to answer these questions, so my conclusion is to talk to my husband. As the spiritual leader of our home he understands more than I do about Scripture in general and though we've talked about it before, I feel like maybe I need a refresher on these issues.
I'll post again once I have a clearer understanding on why we really pray, and what it really does. In the meantime, I'll keep praying.
As someone who believes that everything is a part of God's sovereign plan, why pray? What good does it do? If God already has planned what will happen, will He change His mind if you pray enough for something different? Can He change His mind? If He knows what is best for us then why not just let Him do what He wants and trust that it is what was supposed to happen? Can prayer actually change the outcome of our circumstances or does it just change how we look at things?
These are tough questions, and I'm not sure I have the answers to all of them. I've struggled with these issues at several points in my life. First and foremost, we are commanded by God to pray, and that in and of itself is enough of a reason for me, but I'd really like more concrete answers to these questions.
Matthew 21:22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” (ESV)
Does this really mean that if we have faith, anything we pray for will happen??
James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (ESV)
1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing." (ESV)
Obviously, prayer is a very powerful thing, but does it actually change things?
There are examples all throughout Scripture that talk about God doing specific things because of the prayers of His people. For example: 1 Chronicles 5:20 " And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him." Would the outcome have been the same regardless of prayer or did the prayers cause the outcome?
I'm really not sure how to answer these questions, so my conclusion is to talk to my husband. As the spiritual leader of our home he understands more than I do about Scripture in general and though we've talked about it before, I feel like maybe I need a refresher on these issues.
I'll post again once I have a clearer understanding on why we really pray, and what it really does. In the meantime, I'll keep praying.
Labels: faith
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