So I unlocked my mailbox the other day to find those words printed neatly on to a church flier.
"Prayer, Does it Really Work?"
I breathed a quick laugh, and were I something other than a college student who receives next to no mail, I would have placed that flier on the bottom of the stack. As it were, I just folded it up and stuck it in my pocket. Does prayer really work, I mean really.
I still have that flier sitting next to me on my desk. Each time I read it it brings back that same feeling of indignation. Is this what prayer has become to us, a way in which we can ask God for things? Are we composed of merely needs, and can our only interaction with the one who created us be one of asking for what we do not have?
They are doing a whole series on this topic, and the back of the flier shows what sub-topic the pastor will be addressing each Sunday. "If God already knows, why pray?""Ask, Seek, Knock: when persistence seems pointless""What's okay to pray for?". It makes me so sad. I read these and think that these people are missing so much of what God really is, what life really is. Pray for anything, everything! Whatever you are thinking about, struggling with, wanting, feeling, needing, communicate it. Share it in everyday possible, in everything you do. Your prayer should never cease. It isn't just words, it isn't just asking for something. It isn't a game. Pray without ceasing, ever condition yourself to face God in your actions, words, thoughts. Prayer is the speech of the living; if you have been raised from the dead then everything you do is prayer. If you love God then you ever strive for a better glimpse of him, a more clear image, a brighter picture, because that is your life. If you love God then praying without ceasing will come naturally because all you want in life is him. To not pray kills you on the inside. It is worse than pain, worse than prison, worse than poverty. To not pray is to cut yourself off from God, and I would rather cut off my right arm than be cut off from God.
So these are all the sub-topics. Any comments?
*If God Already Knows, Why Pray?
.....because you love him. If you love someone you express yourself to him or her, and telling God what you want is another way of expressing yourself. All you really need is him anyways
*Ask, Seek, Knock: When Persistence Seems Pointless
.....I don't know as much about this one, but it seems to me that if you really want something you won't get tired of asking for it.
*Unanswered Prayer
.....That's the hardest because all prayer is answered just not all are answered yes, so unanswered prayer probably indicates communication interference. It would seem to me that something isn't getting through.
*Prayer and Physical Healing
.....I have no experience on this on. Any comments?
*What's Okay to Pray For?
.....Anything. I think God can correct you if anything is misplaced, but just don't stop praying.
I think we go overboard on the whole "If I ask God for it, He'll give it to me" idea of prayer. If we can simply get what we want from God by asking for it, doesn't that diminish God below us? Kind of makes Him seem like a servant. When Jesus is praying on the Mount of Olives, it's important to pay attention to what he says:
ReplyDelete"Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." (Luke 22:42 ESV)
So yes we can ask God for something that we want or need, yet in the end we have to remember that only God's will can be done, not ours. Jesus wanted God to take the burden of sin from him. It was weakening him. However, he knew that because God willed it, he would surely take the burden to the cross. Everything that happens is according to God's will. Now this would lead into the whole Calvinism VS. Arminianism in some cases, but let's not get into that.
This is what believe is true. A sovereign God cannot be sovereign if He simply gave us everything WE wanted.
Yeah, and also the more we with him the more his will becomes ours. If it is a duel, his will will always win, but if the two wills join, both my will and his will will be done because they have become one. Of course while we are on earth they will probably never completely line up, and that's when it is "His will not mine."
ReplyDeleteWoaaahhhh, was Jesus' will and God's will different at that point?
What's the meaning exactly of one's "will", and is it purely a mental state, purely a physical phenomenon, or is it fully both?
That's crazy good stuff
Jesus' and God's will were the same. I think that because Jesus was also human it allowed him to have his own will.
ReplyDeleteWe as humans have desires of the flesh. Christians, in particular, are going through the sanctification process. We're being cleaned. So we still have those desires to murder, steal, etc. Yet as we are being sanctified we are being conformed to the image of Christ, thus, our will is being transformed to His will.
I think that it is both a mental state and physical phenomenon. A will starts with a thought that is then carried out by some kind of action, whether it is supernatural or not. It's like when Jesus talks about murder or adultery, if you think it you've already done it, so a will must be a mental state. In most cases a physical phenomenon takes place outside the realm of "reality" (aka a miracle). However, a will as a physical phenomenon can only happen at the will of God.
Jesus is God. God had two conflicting wills at the same time, and each were fully his and fully dominant. One couldn't have been stronger than the other or else the Father in Heaven would have been dominant over Jesus, and then that would mean that either Jesus was not fully God or that he was a minor part of God.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. I think Gethsemane was totally the tipping point where Jesus had to choose the narrow road once and for all, had to decide if he was really going to save us. That is like the climax of the whole Bible. That's awesome.
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ReplyDeleteWell yes Jesus=God, but he was also fully human (God incarnate). Doesn't mean he had desires of the flesh, but in a way he was kind of separate from God.
ReplyDeleteYes this whole thing is mind blowing. If you're interested, my pastor did a sermon on the will of God. Just go to TheVillageChurch.net and click on the resource library and you can find the mp3 version of it (Does God Have Two Wills). It's pretty eye opening. I don't think I've ever thought about God's will until I heard this sermon. But you don't have to. It's just interesting what he says.
I'm glad to see that you're thinking about things like this. You're striving and pursuing. I encourage you to keep doing so. That's the significant role of our relationship with God. To pursue Him and struggle with Him through Scripture and prayer and worship. He wants our hearts more than anything