Why do we bother praying for things (such as healings), when Gods will is going to be done no matter what?
Why do we bother praying for things (such as healings),
when Gods will is going to be done no matter what?
Our God is not a tyrannical God who forces His will on us.
This is a picture that the devil likes to portray about God,
but which is completely untrue. The devil is "a liar and the
father of lies" (John 8:44) He likes to make us think that
his own character traits belong to The One who is not at all
like that!
What kind of a God are we serving? John 3:16-17 "For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life." He is the kind of God who is willing to die for us in
order for us to obtain eternal life. Quite the opposite from
the description of a God imposing His will on others.
God created us to have our own free will. There were dangers
attached to this, but He was willing to take these risks.
Why? Because real love does not confine! In his book, Mere
Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote: "Why, then, did God give
them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil
possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any
love or goodness or joy worth having…Of course God knew what
would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way:
apparently He thought it worth the risk." (p. 48)
In other words, our God is a God who gives freedom because
He is Love. The devil pretends to give us freedom, but once
we go after the lusts of this world, we find ourselves
prisoners of evil!
All throughout the Bible, God is a portrayed as the God who
wants a relationship with His creation. He is the One who
came to have fellowship with Adam and Eve, only to find out
that they are hiding from Him (see Gen 3:8). He is the One
who appeared to Moses to deliver His people from a cruel
slavery (see Ex 3). He is the One who came down from heaven
to reach out to us and lead us to salvation (see all 4
gospels). Our God is a God who wants to have a personal
relationship with us.
All throughout the Bible He never acts without the
cooperation of us humans, except for creating our world and
the resurrection of Jesus. For example, He could have
delivered Israel from Egypt all by Himself. But He preferred
to do it in cooperation with Moses and Aaron. Another
example is that He could be the One proclaiming the gospel
message to the world, but He preferred to proclaim His
message of love in cooperation with His children who have
accepted him into their life (see Matthew 28: 18-20)
Is God imposing His will? No way! The ones who like to
impose his will on us is the devil himself, from whom we
have learned so many bad habits!
Why then, do we pray to God? Because it is our communication
tool with our loving Father who wants to have an intimate
relationship with His children. How many times did Jesus
tell us to "ask"? I counted at least 12 times in the gospels
alone! Think about it. The responsibilities within any type
of a relationship are always two-fold. In this case, God's
responsibility is to give, ours is to ask. If you have
something you want to give to your children, don't you feel
better about giving it to them when they ask? How often have
I not done the same thing: had something wonderful to give
my children, but waited until they asked!
But how do we know how to ask? Even here, God does not leave
us alone in trying to figure out how to do this. He sent His
Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers! Rom 8:26: "Likewise
the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know
what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself
makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered."
You want to know God's will? Read His Word. His will is
expressed in the Bible.
Are you tired of not knowing God's will? Are you frustrated
with the many so-called religions and philosophies of the
world, which are confusing your mind? Do you really want to
get to know you Heavenly Father? If you do, stop depending
on fellow humans. Stop even depending on your church. We all
have been touched by a terrible disease called sin (see
Romans 3:23) and we all have some kind of distorted view of
God.
Start relying on God. He is the truth! Truth is not a set of
doctrines, it is a Person (see John 14:6). How can you rely
on God? By starting to trust His written Word (see 2 Tim
3:16) and by asking God to guide you through His promised
guide the Holy Spirit (see John 16:13). Invite Him into your
life and watch and see your confusion disappear and instead
be filled with inner peace, God's peace (see Phil 4:7). Will
you invite Him now into your life? Why don't you answer His
call at:
http://www.answers2prayer.org/saviours_call.html
God loves you my friend!
Rob Chaffart
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This is a question; I suppose is
coming from someone who has had experience of rebirth.
However, the fact that you belong to a household (family)
does not guarantee you your entire desires until you have
made requests from your parents. God is our heavenly Father.
He cares for us and loves us so much that he releases rain
(general blessings) to those who are righteous and even to
the unrighteous. When you ask in prayer you must receive
from your Heavenly Father if you do not doubt. You are to
talk to your heavenly father in prayer. This is the reason
why he initiated our Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9- 14
He loves hearing you asking and praising His Holy Name.
A CALL TO ASK
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone
happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick?
He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and
anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer
offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord
will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each
other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous
man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like
us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did
not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he
prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced
his crops. James 5:13-18
Without much explanations you have seen why we should ask
from the above scripture: It is self-explanatory.
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks,
the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who
ask him! Matthew 7: 7-11.
Look at that!. A relationship built up between a father and
mother of this world has been compared to the relationship
you have when you gave your life to Jesus Christ and you
become the son/daughter of God. What an allegory? Your
father in heaven will give you exceedingly abundantly more
what you can think or ask of him. However, he will want you
to ask. Our early parents are limited in their supplies to
the children. God is unlimited. He delights in blessing His
children when you request him to do so.
Let’s look the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. When
the prodigal returned, the father threw a party but the
elderly brother was angry at the celebration. Examined the
comment of the father to the elder brother
Luke 15:31-32 “My son, the father said, you are always with
me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate
and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is
alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Can you see the fatherhood? The elder brother never asked
for things that belong to him with his parents. He was
always at home, may be feeling ashamed to ask his father for
those privileges that he should enjoy. When you don’t ask
you will not receive. Check your relationship. Is it OK with
the Lord? If not repent today so you can establish your
communication and enjoy all things.
YOU SHOULD ASK PERSISTENTLY
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that
they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a
certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor
cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept
coming to him with the pleas, ‘rant me justice against my
adversary’. For some time he refused. But finally he said to
himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men,
yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that
she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out
with her coming!’. And the Lord said, “Listen to what the
unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for
his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he
keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get
justice and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes,
will he find faith on the earth?” – Luke 18:1-8
You should not only ask, but you should continue to ask
until your joy is fulfilled. God desires to hear you and
also persistently too.
YOU DON’T ONLY ASK YOU ALSO PRAISE HIM!
“I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always
be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD’ let the
afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us
exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered
me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him
are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This
poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of
all his troubles” – Psalm 34:1-7
God desires to hear you praise Him for the things done and
those yet not done. This will prove that you really the God
you are talking to. The God of the living who will answer us
concerning anything that concerns us.
PROMISE OF RESTORATION WHEN YOU PRAY
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know” Jeremiah 33:3.
FINAL CHARGE
Jeremiah 29:11-14 “For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon
me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart. I ill be found by you declares the LORD and will
bring you back from captivity”.
Are you saved? You must repent and turn to Jesus today.
Tomorrow may be too late. Don’t delay your salvation. You
must be born again! John 3:7.
Rev Debo Adeyemo
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Because we were told to. And because
it is difficult for us to know the mind of God and what is
His will is in every situation.
Jam 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders
of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord:
Jam 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and
the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him.
Jam 5:16 Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one
for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Jam 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are,
and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it
rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six
months.
Jam 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and
the earth brought forth her fruit.
God has foreknowledge of everything. That is not to say that
everything is predestined, only that God knew before the
world began what each of us would do in a certain situation.
For example, consider the 'book of life'. The names of
everyone who would ever live, and I believe that also means
'conceived', were written in the book of life before the
world began. This broad statement includes all babies
conceived in sin, as a result of rape, whatever. Here are
some references to the book of life.
Phl 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those
women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement
also, and [with] other my fellowlabourers, whose names [are]
in the book of life.
Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the
book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father,
and before his angels.
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and
shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into
perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,
whose names were not written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that
was, and is not, and yet is.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing
that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or
[maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's
book of life.
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of
the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out
of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from]
the things which are written in this book.
The sense of these verses is that the names of all of us
were written in the book of life before the world began, and
that depending on the decisions we make, our name will
either remain written in the book or be blotted out.
Only those whose names remain in the book will enter the
Kingdom of God.
If we take this kind of foreknowledge and apply it to
prayer, it becomes apparent that before the world began, God
knew that we would either pray about a situation or not, as
the case may be. It is evident from many answers to prayer
that planning has been put in place long before the answer
became evident to the supplicant. Now, if it is God's will
that your prayer should succeed as a witness to you and
others, and planning for an answer for you was in the
pipeline before the world began, what would it mean if you
should not pray? Simply that God would have known before the
world began that you would choose to not pray and would not
have factored in an answer for you.
Is this getting a bit heavy? Consider a couple of instances
where prayer changed the mind of God. In both of these cases
I will present to you, while God knew the outcome from the
beginning, had the human not prayed as he did, there would
have been a different outcome.
The first is Moses. Moses was up in the mountain with God
and the people were worshiping a golden calf and debauching
themselves down below. God determined to slay all the
children of Israel and start again with just Moses. Moses
prayed for the people and God relented. Exodus 32.
Good king Hezekiah was told by God through His prophet that
he was to die.
Hezekiah petitioned the Lord to let him survive and God
relented and granted Hezekiah another 15 years. Isaiah 38.
When we pray, we are giving the matter to God. If we pray in
the right way with the right motives, (see the answered
question on why prayer seems to sometimes be not answered),
our prayer will be answered, though perhaps not in the way
we would have hoped. Sometimes it may seem to our limited
intelligence that the prayer is not answered, but if we pray
and then trust God to do what is best for all concerned, and
accept what comes as His will in the matter without protest,
then we will know peace.
I mentioned earlier that God knows beforehand everything
that will happen, even our prayers, and I mentioned that
foreknowledge should not be seen as predestination. I would
like to take this a step further by mentioning that we are
ALL predestinated to be saved, because Jesus redeemed us
all. However the decision rests with us. It is entirely up
to us if we remain recorded in the book of life or not. We
are ALL justified before God because of Jesus sacrifice, but
it is necessary for us to accept our acceptance. We will not
be forced. Brother and Sister, if you do not have the
assurance that your name will remain in the book of life
after you die your human death, or if you are not sure,
answer 'The Savior's Call' in this newsletter.
Lance Wearmouth
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My feelings is that the blood of Jesus
was shed for our healing. I have received one healing and
waiting on another. I feel that we don't comprehend just how
strong the blood of Jesus is for us today as it was when He
walked the earth. Also, in the Lord's prayer it says "Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven". There is no
sickness there, but here we have a devil that is loose and
he has come to kill, steal and destroy. We need to focus
more on God's Word than on what trials are going on in our
lives.
God Bless You, RL
RLange1234@aol.com
_____________________________________________________
In Luke 18:1 Jesus told his disciples
that they "should always pray and not give up." and then
Jesus asked "...will not God bring about justice for his
chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?"
In James 5:14-15 we are told: Is any one of you sick? He
should call the elders of the church to pray over him and
anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15) And the
prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the
Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be
forgiven.
In James 5:16 we are asked to "confess your sins to each
other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."
and then told that "The prayer of a righteous man is
powerful and effective."
In Mark 11:23-25 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, if
anyone says to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself into the
sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what
he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24) Therefore
I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you
have received it, and it will be yours. 25) And when you
stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive
him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your
sins."
In Matthew 17:19-20 He says, "I tell you the truth, if you
have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mountain, `Move from here to there' and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."
Jesus' teaching on prayer is clear and precise in the Bible.
As long as we have FAITH in our hearts and souls and BELIEVE
completely what we are praying for is not harmful and is
good, He encourages us to pray pray pray. Pray without
ceasing. Never give up! The Lord hears our prayers! He knows
our hearts and He will answer.
MAY ALL BE BLESSED!
Love & Blessings, DeeDee Steinman
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God tells us that the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. we have influence with God. we will always get the answer to prayer as we pray according to his perfect will. maybe healing is the deal, and we won't know until we use our prayer language, praying in the spirit. The Holy Ghost will guide us into all things, and especially prayer. He will pray the perfect will of God. we cannot miss that way. He gives us an example of chasing after God and begging him.... the king that was going to die added 15 years to his life by going before God. Perhaps God wanted him to do this.
Elaine Moore
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If I thought that is completely what
He meant, I wouldn't pray. I think it is His will for
certain things if you never pray to Him.I really do believe
that His will depends on your prayer and your love for Him.
Just like my kids, the more I see them do right, the more I
want to do for them. That is my will. I believe it works the
same way with God.
God Bless, Pat
