a question about prayer?

Question

if god has a will, as so many claim, then how come you think prayer will change his will? if god wants a man to die, and 1000 people come to pray for that man, will god change his mind?

Answer 1

Exactly. They believe that God has his reasons, and yet question his actions when they don't like it. I don't understand how praying isn't throwing God's decisions back in his face.

Answer 2

Simply because God knows the number of hairs upon your head, does not mean he dictates how many hairs there are on your head.

God does not "will" everything that happens to us. There's nothing in the Bible to imply that God is such a micro manager.

Asking God to intervene where he would not have otherwise intervened is not trying to change the will of God.

Abraham argued with God, and convinced him to change his mind about how many Righteous men needed to be found in Sodom in order to spare the city.

Besides, it could be God's will that a man's illness be used to teach one of his family members or a friend to show the compassion and love necessary to pray for that man.

I'm not saying that God caused the illness, far form it. I am saying that in the event of an illness, God may very well want to use it at a lesson in compassion for others, or perhaps a way to draw together a family or neighborhood that was previously fractured.

Praying isn't just about the person being prayed for, it's about the person praying as well.

Answer 3

God is a Spirit, our communication with him is via prayer. That is our faith line too. Christ was asked how to pray as well to Him and gave a general prayer for all. Ephesians can be interpreted that God knew before our birth our destiny, but understand that destiny was in His ways and plans for us, not the world's. It is often said you will get no where in life except where He wants you to be. Now, whether you agree with that or not you do not know your own destiny because life in general is about choices and changes. If we are allowed free will and a choice of praying or not, it seems that is God's plan for us as well. The old ways of the old testament ended when Christ died there for our sins, he paid the debt and we are His. The new testament is the Gospels and teachings of Christ. Christ said the Holy Spirit came with His leaving to guide man to Him. Now if God had a firm will and would not allow change, then either Christ was not as He claimed and the new testament and mankind's hope is lost, or we all have a chance of everlasting life with him and we were told to pray. Maybe that makes sense?

Answer 4

Well I pray to Allah about once or twice a week,
i pray for thanks because i am loved by many and am living well
i pray also for the people around me to have the best life possible not to change the outcome or when they will die.
I understand what you are saying like when someone is about to die, you pray for them. Its not like they are going to live longer because god has already decided to keep them on earth or take them you pray for the their family and friends.
I can't really explain its just sometimes i don't feel its there time to go so prayer helps me a lot!
good question by the way=]

Answer 5

God's Will?
This is what I believe:
God is not a man changing his will, God is in all creation and all is part of God. The Bible says, "God is a Spirit." God has no image. God is the source of all.

When we are aligned with our source, God, we take right actions and pray for the right things to happen and the right things will happen. God stands for the best for all, All That Is.
The ego may not always want it that way, for sometimes the ego has to stand back and say, it would be good for me but not good for others, animals, plants, the earth or creation.

How do we know what God's will is?

Our so-called Higher Self can "tune in" and know. We can train ourselves to listen to our Higher Self, our God-Self.

Can there be a better prupose in life than to do God's will - the best for All That is? Creating joy?

Cordially, India.Magica

Answer 6

Prayer does not get God ready to do our will, it gets us ready to do His- quote by Oswald Chambers. God calls us to pray for all people. Look at the old testament account of Moses- As long as he prayed and held up the staff to heaven God protected the Israelites from certain death in a war- when Moses could no longer hold up the staff Israelites started to die- so 2 people came and held up the staff with Moses, and he continued to pray and God continued to save. We do not know why when we pray for healing, God heals some but still allows others to die. God does heal all diseases, however, not necessarily on earth- when , we as believers are home in heaven with Jesus, there will be no more pain or sorrow, death or crying. That is ultimate healing to me.

Answer 7

It could be that if a man is dying, God didnt intend to take him yet, so Prayer helps a whole lot, My 1 yr old brother was in the hospitle for 2 years dying, we prayed and prayed and he still with us today, hes 5

Answer 8

It is not God' will that a man should die. It is because of our choices (Adam & Eve) that death came into this world. So when we pray we are petitioning God for our needs and our desires. It is God' will that we live a healthy life. Sometimes our friends are in pain and suffering it is his will that we be healed but sometimes healing comes through death. God has not changed his mind. He does allow mankind to suffer the consequences of our decisions, sometimes it results in death. We are not immortal as it was intended, we must all die.

Answer 9

We pray not only because we love the Lord but He commands us to pray--He wants us to pray to Him, and yes He has a will, but prayer is powerful and the more we pray the more we defeat the enemy. When someone prays, the enemy flees.

Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Jesus says: Matthew 26:41
"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

-There is a lot of scripture on prayer and the Holy Spirit helps us pray, and teaches us how to pray. It intercedes for us:

Romans 8:26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Answer 10

Great question even for Christians. I don't know how prayer affects God but He tells us it does so we do it. It also makes me feel better because even when I feel like I am at the lowest point in my life I know I am not alone. So if that is all pray ever did I would be grateful.

Answer 11

God says to ask Him for our requests. I have noticed that God does not interfere with any ones life until they ask Him to. When they ask, He is very open to their requests and sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no, and sometimes wait.

One of mine and my husband's prayers was for God to help my husband find a job in a new city that we had moved to. My husband had tried and tried to find a job. Nothing happened for at least 1 year. Then, after we had almost depleted our savings,he got a phone call offering him 2X the $ amount that he had requested. I believe that God was very much involved in this even though at times, I would ask Him why wasn't He answering our prayer. My husband assured me that He would. Just be patient. And, He did.

We honor Him by tithing.