Does prayer work??

Prayer does work, my friend. Hezekiah is an example, He was told he would die. He prayed, the Bible says God heard His prayer and gave Him 15 years.

God said 'Call on me and I will answer.'

There are many instances where God did something for someone because He heard their petition.

 

HP: You made many assertions in your post but failed to establish any of them Scripturally. Take this one for instance. Where does Scripture state that if it is God’s will it must of necessity happen?

 

HP: Wicked men and their wicked choices. God’s will is that none would perish and that all would come to repentance. Wicked men refuse to do God’s will.

 

If prayer didn' work why did Jesus pray so much?

Jamie

 

rew,

I encourage you to read the 4th chapter of James. James said that some prayers are not answered because of selfish desire.

Many pray for something to happen only so they will be happy. That is selfish prayer.

 

Do you know of at least one case where such 'petition' did not result in the desired plea?

 

James 4:3 (KJV) Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts. {lusts: or, pleasures}

 

Rew:

You left out a few. Loving......merciful.......a good Father.

Matthew 7
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

 

It's not God's job to conform to our will. It's our job to conform to His.

 

HP: Another aspect of this is the fact that sometimes God grants our petitions although it may not in fact work for our good. “Ps 106:15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.”

 

Conversation with God, in our feeble minds, often starts out with us asking God to change a circumstance. Sometimes God does so. Other times, God changes us.

Conversing with God continually makes us more like God...and thus aligns our desires more with His.

 

WhaHUH???!

Is that supposed to make sense?

Try reading the bible on the subject of prayer and then presenting an informed opinion --- instead.

"ASK and you shall receive"...
"You do not have because you do not ask" JAmes 4.
"Whatsoever things you ask in My Name..."
"Hear the case of the unjust judge..."
"hear the case of the persistent neighbor..."

Less smoke -- more fire.

You talk as one would expect an atheist to speak who had never actually read the Bible.

Recall that in Matt 22 the Sadducees came to Christ with the same kind of "impossible for God to do what HE says He does" argument against the resurrection.

"This woman married seven times because each husband died so quickly -- in the resurrection whose wife will she be?"

Start with the obvious.

#1. It is "tough" to BE God
#2. The Bible spends a lot of time telling us TO pray and showing us how to pray.
#3. God has created a free will universe - by definition that means He is not interested in robot-world.

Read the text -- and think about it.

If we could "divine" the case of each human as to when and why the infinite mind of God would answer one way or another -- we would BE God.

Think about it.

In Christ,

Bob

 

This is the vanilla everyday argument one can get twice on Tuesdays from an Agnostic or an Atheist.

God "IS Love" - "God so LOVED the world that HE GAVE"

God MADE Adam and Eve in a sinLESS harmLESS peaceFUL PERFECT world. LOVE provided that no harm, no carnage, starvation, disease, extinction process was to be used "in a natural selection style mythology" - rather GOD SPOKE and it was!

Those who trade in the God of Love in the Bible for the "death disease, predation, extermination" form of "And God said let there be animals" - have created their own demons totally outside of the Bible.

As we see in Job 1 - God works on a basis of JUSTICE and authority. Satan comes representing THIS WORLD - as in 2Cor 4 he is called "the god of the World". The CONSEQUENCE of Adam handing the keys over to Satan has been the woe and ruin of mankind for age upon age.

Blaming God for the sin of man - is not logical.

Blaming God for the fact that the sin of mankind results in separation -- is not logical.

For reason to prevail - you have to take some reasonable first-steps.

In Christ,

Bob

 

And that's our show for tonight! Strike up the banned, Johnny! :laugh:

 

God places the Tree of life near the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

Adam and Eve are not "so hungry they just gotta eat" from the forbidden tree.

They simply have to exercise free will - and choose not to sin.

The idea "they MUST sin if it is EASY to choose sin" is never the Bible model. Nor do we instruct our children to follow such flawed logic.

As it turns out - the Bible is true, the gospel is true, Christ DID die for us "literally" and What the NT writers said about the Gen 1-6 "details" does not fit atheist darwinism - but is true anyway.

In Christ,

Bob

 

rew,

Your profile says you are a Baptist and that you love God, but your post here says something entirely different.

Now, according to Baptist Board rules, I cannot out and out question your Salvatiion. But I don't have to, your words here declare whose servant you are.

A Christian will not make such statements as 'either God is not perfect or the Bible is not fact or both'. Your words betray you.

I will pray for you.