Why pray & ask God to help someone if God's will be done?

Question

I've heard many times that God knows our fates. I've also heard people say, pray that I'll do a good job, pray that so-and-so gets well soon, pray that I get the job/promotion, etc. I understand that people pray to thank God, but what's the point of praying to ask for things? Doesn't God have it all planned out anyways?

Wow, there are a lot of good answers! Thank you everyone for your input.

Answer 1

God created us as agents of free will, and He does not dictate what we do with that free will, or it would no longer BE free will! What we are supposed to pray for, and what so many of us forget, is not OUR will, but for things to turn out as God want's them to. When God answers prayers, it is with strength to handle a particular situation, or with patience to live our lives with more humility. God does not dabble in our everyday lives. If He did, I could understand the prayers before the Superbowl... and someone figures that God is up there going "HMMMM.. I think Dallas this year!" ??? We should pray for and we recieve patience, faith, strength, humility, sincerity...those are answers we get when we pray correctly!

Answer 2

Pray is really about us changing not God changing. Prayer is about submitting to his leadership and about helping people have God an his best. We are called to pray because when we pray we submit a matter into his hands for his will over the matter and we also show his love toward his people. We pray as even Jesus prayed for the will of the father and not for our own will. In such we are not seeking our will but his.
Is it wrong to submit a prayer for a raise, he delights in doing good to the children of God.
Is it wrong to pray to do a good job, he delights in the good his people do.
Is it wrong to wrong to pray for someone to get well, he desire that none suffer but that all shall be whole, For by his stripes we were made well. His will is healing.
His will is known by reading the bible and also by seeking his presents.
God has planned it all out on the big scale but we can effect changes on a individual level. We can help people get saved and healed and even get some of them healed. The friverent prays of a rightious man availith much. Prayers makes a great difference in people lives as does love.

Answer 3

First of all God does not exactly know our "fates." We have free will and can pretty much guide our own lives. If we chose to do so without benefit of God's laws then we suffer the consequences.

However, God knows what is best for us, so if we ask for something it might not be his will that we get it yet or at all. Listen to Garth Brooks' "Unanswered Prayers". There's a lot of sense in that song.

Answer 4

If it had been a waste of time, Jesus would not have said "Ask and I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

God said, "Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you."

Jesus also said, "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it."

It is God's good pleasure to provide for His children's needs and what He said, He meant.

King Hezekiah was given a pronouncement of death by Prophet Elijah but he turned his face to the wall and cried out to God, telling God "...the dead cannot praise you..." God immediately sent Elijah back to say that Hezekiah would be given an additional 15 years to live.

Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot tried bargaining with God to save those cursed places and God said He would reconsider if Lot could find people worthy of saving. Lot kept calling numbers but there weren't even the least - 10 - so God carried out His plan. Had Lot been able to find just 10 people worthy of God's mercy, He would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah, despite all of the sinfulness there.

God is merciful and will be merciful to all who call upon Him in truth. The Bible says, "The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

Answer 5

God has the infinite POWER to KNOW everything If he chooses to use it. God Can do anything (except lie) Just because He can does not necessarily mean He Does!
When we pray , with unwavering Faith, God hears and answers our prayers In His Time.
Even Jesus prayed that the Will of His Father be done.
God gave us His word and His will is fully outlined in it and is applicable for us today .

We choose to obey and accept or not to obey and reject., God.


Christian in PA

Answer 6

Christ taught us to pray, using something similar to what we've adapted to the common Lord's Prayer (Our Father, who art in heaven...). We also have a great example of prayer from Christ in John 17.

People ask for prayer, sometimes, based on things in this world. While I'm sure that God listens to those prayers, I think that you're on to something. For each of these types of prayer requests, try to see God's Kingdom when you take it to prayer.

For example, a request for prayer to "do a good job" (interesting that we use "good" where none are good except God alone) could involve a prayer that asks God for the wisdom to show this person that they are loved and appreciated for their efforts/job.

Another example, for a "get well soon" prayer, perhaps ask God that the persons spiritual health (faith) would increase (as everyone's faith can increase) as their physical health increases.

Yes, God does have it all planned out. He also says that whatever you ask for in Christ will be given to you. The key part is "in Christ". It would be hard for me to explain how praying for something material (like a new car) would be in Christ - for God's glory.

And remember, to each their own according to their faith in God.

Answer 7

That's a good point. I pray that I be brought into acceptance of God's will (whatever that is) rather than, "Hey God, I could really use a new car over here."

Answer 8

Praying is being in relationship with God.

Prayer is the place of admitting our need, of adopting humility, and claiming dependence upon God. Prayer changes the one praying because in prayer, you are in the presence of God as you lay before Him your complete self in confession and dependence. There is nothing to hide when in quiet supplication we are reaching into the deepest part of ourselves and admitting our needs and failures.

Answer 9

Bible tells us about many events would have been happened by God & he regreted when people prayed and requested repentance as in EXODUS 32
I think prayer changes things also within God will.

Answer 10

God hasn't planned out everthing. He merely knows what will happen. He is timeless and outside of time. (He invented time).

His will is clearly stated in 3 John 2 where he says that he wishes above all things that we are prosperous and in 'good health' (in greek this reads, made whole).