Does praying for a better tomorrow (for yourself or the world) go against the will of God?

Question

Most who believe in God feel that the world is unfolding as God sees fit, and that he has a master plan. For example (and JeanMarie, you inspired this question), a parent of an autistic child might pray for a better tomorrow for her child by asking for a miracle healing, or possibly a cure for the disease altogether.

If said parent is asking for something other than what God has intended, doesn't this go against God's so-called master plan? There are numerous real-life examples I could use, but I think most of you are intelligent enough to see where I am going with this.

Answer 1

we don't know what God's master plan is.


it could be that He wants us to pray.


or it could be that He doesn't.


Jesus told us to pray, so I'll stick with that until something better comes along.

Answer 2

For those of us who are Christians, prayer to God for the alleviation of suffering of all types is good. The world is definitely NOT unfolding as God sees fit. What a presumption! The world is a mess. This is why God sent Christ - to redeem the world from the misery of sin and all its results. The New Testament authors constantly urge their readers to pray for all - the sick, the imprisoned, the suffering, the lonely, the lost, for good government, favorable weather, families and family members, etc., etc. How God answers these petitions is up to Him, and we are reminded that His ways are not our ways, that no one has plumbed the depths of His wisdom. In the end, this is what we believe: The temptations and assaults of evil are the tests of God. The Lord disciplines those whom He loves, just as loving Fathers discipline their children. And don't come back to me with the nonsense that a loving God would not allow all this misery and suffering. First, He didn't cause it. Secondly, He did the only thing about it that would work - He sent His Son to atone for the mess. Nonbelievers want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to have all their fun and yet see no consequences. They want God to automatically change everything in their favor. But if God would manipulate people like pawns on a chessboard, they would no longer be people but robots. Believers know that is not the way it works. One other thing: The autistic child example would be viewed this way. The mother could pray for the child's healing or for improvement, and who knows? Perhaps a miracle could occur. But more than that, the mother would pray that God's will would be done through her for her child regardless of the child's condition.

Answer 3

Well, God’s “master plan” includes us humans praying. You are committing a sin if you don’t pray, since Jesus commanded us to do it -- and BTW, prayer is not just asking for stuff; that is an overly simplistic view of prayer.

True, the God of the Bible is not just a genie slave who gives us everything that we ask for, irregardless of the consequences. God is more of a parent who weighs our requests and sees if they are reasonable when the universe as a whole is taken into account (something that we could not possibly know).

Since God does not grant any prayer that violates his master plan, it has led many people to ask, why pray at all? The short answer is because God told us to pray, no matter what. Simple enough. But why? What good does it do? I suppose that God already knows if you are going to pray or not, and he has already set everything up accordingly in the future somewhere based on whether or not you pray. It might be true that you don’t always get what you ask for, but if you ask for nothing, then Jesus promised that you will always get nothing.

And, like I said, prayer is more than just asking for favors from God. It is an act of worship that includes praise, giving thanks, and confession as well.

For more information on the subject, check out “Too Busy Not to Pray” by Bill Hybels at the library. Or download “The Kneeling Christian” for free at the link below:

===edit===
"...Do we realize that there is nothing the devil dreads so much as prayer? His great concern is to keep us from praying. He loves to see us “up to our eyes” in work — provided we do not pray. He does not fear because we are eager and earnest Bible students — provided we are little in prayer. Someone has wisely said, “Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” All this is so familiar to us — but do we really pray? If not, then failure must dog our footsteps, whatever signs of apparent success there may be...."

Answer 4

The will of God that is mentioned in the Bible is clearly laid out. God is in control in that He will have the final word, but He can not be blamed for things that we do not understand. Praying for a better tomorrow--or for anything--must be done so in a way that God instructs through the Bible. I pray that people will come to know His will as I have. God's will is the same for every person--that all should repent and obey Him and have eternal life. Many people believe that the will of God is different for each person. Perhaps, since everyone is different, they will all react to the will of God differently--accept and obey, believe but not change, or just ignore it all together. Praying for God to do something and not putting yourself in the picture is not scriptural. We must petition God humbly and submit to Him that His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. His will is only done when Christians do it--when they obey. If it is not written in the Bible, then it is speculative and man made. Man should pray for a better tomorrow in that the Son would come soon and relieve us of this world.

Answer 5

I don't think it ever goes against God's will for us to ask for something, especially healing of someone we love.

However, even while we ask for God to intervene - for a miracle, or for a cure to be found - we should be content with the circumstances we're in, and seek God's strength to deal with the situation.

When Job asked for healing, God did not express anger at his request. God never answered the "why" questions that Job asked, but He didn't get angry at the questions.

I hear that we're supposed to grow stronger with each challenge we deal with - that's the popular mantra. But, the fact is, that sometimes things don't get better, and sometimes, it seems like we end up weaker instead of stronger. There are times that we just don't seem to have anything left to carry on with. Those are the times we can just lean on God's strength. He is so amazing in those times.

Neat thing is...that seems to be the precise time that we end up becoming stronger.

I hope that makes sense - I tried to keep it from getting too long.

Answer 6

Since God is omnipresent, I could only surmise that to him everything is already done. Prayer is only one of those items that already took place. All outcomes have already occurred in God's world. For humans, what's the point of doing anything, praying or otherwise. For that matter, how can God do anything, if he is an eternal being. There is no ability to begin or plan anything, since these actions are a function of time. At least, this is only one of the many paradoxes that concern atheists and apologetics.

Answer 7

God knows everything that will happen. And God has an incredible plan for redemption. However, we do not know what God has in store. Thus, praying for healing could very well be part of His plan.

Additionally, God can change His mind, in a manner of speaking. Throughout scripture, we see examples of godly men and women (Abraham, Moses, etc.) who pray to God, appealing to His perfect grace, and leading Him to change His mind.

Whether or not God had that "change" in mind the whole time, we can only speculate. But as a God who lives outside of our restrictions of time and space, I believe God not only foreknew that His people would pray to Him to do something seemingly out of His will; but that, also, God planned it that way, knowing how His people would act.

Its kind of mind-bending seeing how a perfect God can use us and our daily actions to work in an incredible plan.

But to also answer your question, Christians are to pray for God's will to be done - since His will is "perfect and pleasing." Christ modeled this at the Garden of Gethsemene. But during this prayer, Christ also asked that He be spared the torture He would endure.

This is called having a trusting relationship. As one develops their prayer life and relationship with God, we're able to trust Him with the deepest, most painful parts of our life. We grow in faith, going to Him in prayer knowing that only He can change certain parts of our life. We don't always get what we want...God will do as He wishes...but we can pray and talk to God about our pains and hurts.

Thanks for the great question.

Answer 8

Even though God's master plan is spelled out in the Word of God. He also wants us to pray for everyone.

Answer 9

No, I think of Jonah being sent to Nineveh.
He had a condemnatory message that they would all be destroyed. And Jonah did everything he could think of to not give them that message....but he did give the message...they all turned back to serving the one true God and were spared.

Maybe if we all turned back to God....maybe we could be spared.

And God does not harm people...he doesn't give us diseases or conditions for "a reason" and he doesn't kill people for new angels..Thats another lie of Satans.

So yes we can pray to God for better conditions and healthier lives for us and our families. Rest assured those now weeping and crippled will be perfect in the new system of things where righteous does dwell.

God's Master Plan has not changed from the beginning. He wants perfect people on a perfect earth worshiping him.

Answer 10

No.

He understands that we dont always grasp the big-picture, His plan is not always understood by us. It is right to pray to Him for answers, for healing...for anything. If it is His will, then it will be done. If not, then we just have to accept that it is not God's will and there will be something better in store for us in the future.

Remember, prayer is not always asking for aid from God...but a way to communicate with Him, and to thank Him for everyday things.

Answer 11

If I believed in a God then I would have to say that he probably does not even know what his master plan is. Either that or just for jokes and giggles he changes his mind at every turn.

I suppose it is convenient to have a god to blame everything on.