Prayer

40crush41

Hey everyone,

I'm posting concerning prayer -Something that I understand to be of grant importance for a healthy spirtual life and relationship with God, yet as important as it is, I can sometimes lose sight of its meaning.. if that makes sense.

I understand the concept that you can't have a relationship with someone that you do not communicate with. I suppose my question is concerning what it is that we pray for... if we pray for the wrong thing, I would assume that God will not grant it to us, but will He withhold something from us because we are not praying for the right thing? And lastly, what of those that do not pray, yet signs of grace are with them?

I asked a priest I respect a lot at school about this and He explained to me that "God wants to share His gifts with us and wants us to be active participants in His works, therefore, He gives us the grace through the Holy Spirit to pray for what He will grant to us to make our lives good." (I may be missing a word here or there, but that is the main message)

I'm still trying to work all of this out..
Any thoughts further questions on the matter?

Thanks for your time, peace&love! ~Beth

Juza1973

I suppose my question is concerning what it is that we pray for... if we pray for the wrong thing, I would assume that God will not grant it to us, but will He withhold something from us because we are not praying for the right thing?

I don't think that God would withhold something from us because we are not praying for the right thing. I think that he would guide us to recognise what the right thing is and to find satisfaction of our needs in the right way. There is always good way to get what we desire according to God's will (the others are wrong ways, who might be quicker but who wouldn't add anything to our joy and who also would take it away from us eventually).

philologos

Selfish prayer is not the way in which one will be rewarded. An example of this was when Solomon on becoming king asked God for wisdom so he could rule his nation with care and decency. But after he asked this from God, He gave Solomon much more than wisdom, He also gave Solomon great wealth. The idea is if you pray for the right thing, God will reward you with much more than you have asked for in the first instance on some occasions. However if you ask for a selfish prayer, as many of us have done as children. He will not grant it due to our selfishness.

PDN

40crush41 wrote:

And lastly, what of those that do not pray, yet signs of grace are with them?

That's the great thing about grace - it is totally undeserved. God sometimes just blesses you even when you didn't even ask for the blessing.

40crush41

Hey, thank you for the replies, I've read the replies a couple of time and gave it some more thought..
Juza -that makes sense to me.. I think thats where my teacher was trying to lead me -That God will guide us to the right path

Jakkass-I like what you said there, if you will allow me to wander in thought..
I find it hard to answer the question "why do we pray"
..think of the expression "the power of prayer"
What I find so odd about asking these questions is that I do find prayer necessary, If I offer up a lazy prayer, I feel disconnected after sometime and realize that I have to be more aware of my prayer life.
..I also keep thinking that I'm drawing my conclusion by saying that we are changing ourselves, and not God when we pray. When we pray we are not asking God to change His will and zap the earth with what we want, but to help guide us, open us, direct us on the path towards Him. Hes never changing, and all knowing -logically He's not listening to what we think best or changing to allow that to happen.
But then that doesn't explain to me why people pray when there is something like a loved one with cancer. You can pray for understanding, but there is something odd about a prayer to cure cancer. God is all powerful, I know that -but if its His will to end the cancer as a miracle.. then is He waiting for our prayers to go up to Him before He does something about it?
Does my confusion make sense?
I'll stop rambling now
Thank you very much again for takin the time to read and replying ~Beth

philologos

40crush41 wrote:

Jakkass-I like what you said there, if you will allow me to wander in thought..
I find it hard to answer the question "why do we pray"
..think of the expression "the power of prayer"
What I find so odd about asking these questions is that I do find prayer necessary, If I offer up a lazy prayer, I feel disconnected after sometime and realize that I have to be more aware of my prayer life.
..I also keep thinking that I'm drawing my conclusion by saying that we are changing ourselves, and not God when we pray. When we pray we are not asking God to change His will and zap the earth with what we want, but to help guide us, open us, direct us on the path towards Him. Hes never changing, and all knowing -logically He's not listening to what we think best or changing to allow that to happen.
But then that doesn't explain to me why people pray when there is something like a loved one with cancer. You can pray for understanding, but there is something odd about a prayer to cure cancer. God is all powerful, I know that -but if its His will to end the cancer as a miracle.. then is He waiting for our prayers to go up to Him before He does something about it?
Does my confusion make sense?
I'll stop rambling now
Thank you very much again for takin the time to read and replying ~Beth

What is so negative about death as Christians? It's something that I don't understand. How one can be a Christian and fear death, in the knowledge that you are going to live in a New Earth and a New Jerusalem where God lives among the mortals (as described in Revelations somewhere). If you have faith yes, you will live on. People perhaps pray that they can enjoy a little more time with the person in particular. However, if it is God's will to bring that cancer patient to heaven to enjoy a new life, isn't it a tad selfish asking Him to keep him here just to be around you for a few more years? It's a tricky question. God's nature is sometimes beyond us as human beings. I hope that in my faith in God, that I too may go to heaven to find out the true answers from Him.
I hope that answers your question, and you are perfectly right to be a bit confused as God hasn't revealed all the answers to us yet. As for God zapping things at us, I would see often that in this world of pain and suffering that it could be a testing ground for us, to keep our faith in the midst of it and see new life in Him. I don't know what other Christians think of this. As far as I can remember there are some Biblical references about God testing us as the human race. (I'll try dish up some references later).

As for why we pray, I largely pray to ask for God's guidance, strength in my faith, I pray that those who have not discovered Him may do so. I pray that God may continue showing His power to us. To be honest with you, I would ask God to be with me and others, so that we can fight the struggle that is called life on this earth.

40crush41

Very true response -its a hard point to remember when you see suffering and death, but thats the great thing about Christianity, there is a promise of a new life.

And thanks, I think I can say I understand better what it we are expecting from prayer... when we pray for the things that you say you ask for, we are asking to open ourselves up more... so prayer in the end changes us. I suppose its in asking that we become aware of what we are missing, and in that way God can touch us with His grace.
well that makes sense to me

peace&love

kelly1

40crush41 wrote:

Hey everyone,

I'm posting concerning prayer -Something that I understand to be of grant importance for a healthy spirtual life and relationship with God, yet as important as it is, I can sometimes lose sight of its meaning.. if that makes sense.

I understand the concept that you can't have a relationship with someone that you do not communicate with. I suppose my question is concerning what it is that we pray for... if we pray for the wrong thing, I would assume that God will not grant it to us, but will He withhold something from us because we are not praying for the right thing? And lastly, what of those that do not pray, yet signs of grace are with them?

I asked a priest I respect a lot at school about this and He explained to me that "God wants to share His gifts with us and wants us to be active participants in His works, therefore, He gives us the grace through the Holy Spirit to pray for what He will grant to us to make our lives good." (I may be missing a word here or there, but that is the main message)

I'm still trying to work all of this out..
Any thoughts further questions on the matter?

Thanks for your time, peace&love! ~Beth

Greetings Beth,
I'm not at all qualified to speak on the subject of prayer, but I'll give it a go anyway.

Prayer is absolutely vital in order to have a real relationship with God. As with any person whom we love, we tell them of our love for them, we tell them how we feel, we tell them about our cares, worries and anxieties. In prayer, we ask God for help with our needs and the needs of others, we give thanks for favours received, we ask for forgiveness for our sins and we pay God due homage and worship. Without communication there is no relationship. Our prayer should be frequent, even continuous so that our love doesn't grow cold. We stay in touch with our best friends, don't we?

The important thing to remember is that whatever we ask for should be compatible with God's will. Asking God for gifts like faith, grace to avoid sin, love of God, mercy, perseverance, purity of heart etc. are likely to receive a favourable response from God. On the other hand if we ask for things which are likely to draw us away for God, we can expect disappointment. God always does what's best for our ulimate good. God always hears our prayers but in His infinite wisdom, He answers when the time is right and in the right manner. It's all about trust. We need to trust that God has everything "in hand" and that He cares for us.

If we are really serious about loving God, we need to put His will at the top of our priority list. Our own desires are often selfish and incompatible with God's will. We should pray that God will mould our will to conform to His. As Jesus said, "Be perfect as you Father in Heaven is perfect". We are all called to holiness and being holy means living the Gospel and abandoning our selfish desires in favour of God's will.

Prayer is a life-long journey of spiritual growth. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, we begin with vocal prayer, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be etc. As we grow in grace, the Holy Spirit draws us into a closer relationship with Christ through meditational prayer. As we grow in grace and love of God, meditational prayer leads to contemplative prayer in which God infuses His love into our souls.

Re your question about praying for the recovery of someone with cancer, I imagine God finds it difficult to refuse the prayer of someone who prays with great faith, sincerity and humility. Whatever the outcome we should place our trust in God knowing that He's doing what's best. God often allows us to suffer in order to bring good out of sufferering. Some people only turn to God when things go wrong. We might for instance spend a lifetime in pursuit of happiness in drink, drugs and money and we call out to God in desperation when we hit rock bottom. Or we might get cancer and become very afraid of what faces us after death. Suffering is always an opportunity to grow spiritually.

I recently finished a book called 'Prayer Primer' by Fr. Thomas Dubay which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to begin a life of serious prayer.

Anyway that's enough rambling from me!

God bless,
Noel.