Does prayer work?

Question

My mother called me all of a sudden to pray for my brother cause she felt God put it on her heart to pray(she never calls me). Later we found out that he had crashed(fliped his vehicle 3 times) with out a seat belt and the seat wasen't even bolted down.

He is perfectly fine.
We prayed minutes before the crash when we diden't know anything we just felt we should pray.

I don't gain anything by telling you this, so this isen't made up.

Answer 1

Seems so - don't it?

Answer 2

I believe you. I've seen prayer do amazing things. Once I was diagnosed with an illness that sucked the life out of me. But I had to work a stressfull job because I needed the money. It got so bad one day I just fell to the ground and cried for God's intervention. I wasn't even close to God at that point. Exactly 3 days later, I got a very unexpected large sum of money. It was enough to quit working for a year and heal.

Another time I was forced to evacuate because there was a fire in the hills by my house. I prayed several hours, in addition to visualizing the fire moving away, and that my bunny (in a cage outside) was safe. When I got back, I found out that the fire had burnt right up to my back door, then suddenly changed direction. Also, my bunny was hopping around in the driveway, though her cage was burnt. Apparently a fire fighter grabbed her as the cage started on fire.
You can choose to call those things "coincidences" or feel in your heart that the Divine was looking out for you.

The only time my prayers have not been answered so far has been when I realized later that it would not have been the best thing for me. For reasons I didn't know of at the time.

Sometimes prayers are answered just not in the way we want, but in the way we need.

Answer 3

I don't have a link to the study offhand, but I did read about a study once where there were three groups of cancer patients. One group was prayed for, but never told about it, the second group was told prayed for and was made aware that people were praying for them and the third group was a control group where no one prayed. The group that did slightly better was the one who knew they were being prayed for. Scientists believe that this is because when you are aware that you are being prayed for, it inspires hope and helps the brain relax and release chemicals to help fight off illness. Positive people tend to live longer for this same reason. However, it would also suggest that prayer doesn't work because the group who was prayed for and didn't know it, didn't do any better than the control group.

There were two other studies done about prayer. One was done with bacteria growth and another with rolling dice. Both showed that prayer failed to make any difference in the growth of bacteria or probability that a certain number would come up with the dice.

In short, prayer is shown not to work, unless you count the psychological aspects that come of it. But again, this can come from other means of aspiration and hope and not just from prayer to get the same results.

Answer 4

Prayer seems possible when you have unknowns. It seems less logical when you consider the fact that whatever happened, happened. Your brother would not have died on the spot if you hadn't prayed. Think about the situation from his perspective, he's a real person too. Would the car magically lift up and safely lay down out of danger's way if you pray?

Answer 5

Yes, I believe it. I know that there is Power In Prayer.....God Loves For us to talk to Him, and Trust in Him to answer Our Prayers. He Tell us to PRAY BIG, and when He answers , He gets the Glory!! Matt 2I;22 says " And all things, whatsoever ye shall ASK IN PRAYER, BELIEVING, YE SHALL RECEIVE.!!! An Awesome Promise FROM GOD. Just keep trusting, Praying, and Believing.> He will be Very Gracious to you at the voice of Your Cries., He will Hear it , and answer YOU! Isaiah 30:I9


<> Victorious Prayer Warrior<>

Answer 6

Absolutely, prayer does work. I don't know how anyone makes it in life without a personal relationship with the Lord. God has shown us what He is like by sending His son , Jesus, to earth. We can talk to God through prayer and make requests - sometimes He answers yes, sometimes no, and sometmes wait. He knows what is best for us and if we will place our lives in His hands, trust Him, and seek His guidance then our lives will run smoothly. He knows what is better for us than we do so it is always safe to leave the choice to Him. Yes, prayer always works.

Answer 7

I believe with all of my heart that prayer does work!
I believe that your Mother was given the message to pray. God heard your prayers. I am so happy for your family that your brother is fine.

Answer 8

It does not and I will prove it to you. Replace god with any inanimate object and pray to it. You will always get the same three answers that you will get from god

1. Yes
2. No
3. Not yet

Go ahead try it out the next time you are looking for an answer to a prayer

Answer 9

For me praying is based on my relationship with the one I am praying to. My prayer is made known to my Heavenly Father because of my relationship with Him through Christ and He works, not my prayer. This for me keeps my focus on Him and not so much on my need or request.
I am grateful to God for keeping your brother safe and also for you and your mom being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. That's part of the glory of being led by the Spirit.

Answer 10

I do believe prayer works!! Praise God!!

When God puts a person in our minds we should defiantly NOT put it off.
Its happened to me a few times and the results were awesome. One person wanted to commit suicide and we didn't speak for years and all a sudden he appeared in my path one day and he told me he was contemplating it at the same time that He was in my thoughts.....
God is amazing that way!

Answer 11

Do you really have to ask? You have seen the results yourself! God answers all prayers, we may not like the answer or get the answer we wanted, but he answers them all. Sometimes with, yes, as in the case with your brother. Sometimes, no, which we have all gotten at one time or another. And sometimes, not yet, like when I pray for all the unbelievers to be shown the truth!