I went for a walk tonight. It was a pretty long walk, but…

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Posted by: dermutti Original: 7/12/2007 1:42 AM Comments: 4 eProps: 8 Read Comments Post a Comment Back to Your Xanga Site

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2 eProps from: theanimation Chelleismness thethirdwoman cominguptails

Thursday, July 12, 2007

I went for a walk tonight. It was a pretty long walk, but for some reason, the only parts of me that are sore so far are my toes. Does that seem right to you?

Anyway, on to serious things.

My brother is healing pretty quickly. In fact, I've only heard a couple of things about his situation lately that haven't been positive. His situation, among other things, has had me thinking a lot about prayer lately. Namely the idea of asking God for something.

When I ask a friend for something, I do it to let them know of a need or want that I have that they typically don't know about. Usually, when I ask them for something they know I want, I'm asking to let them know when I want it. But with God, neither of those situations occurs. God knows better than I do what I need, what I want, and when I should or should not get it. So should prayer simply be a method of expressing thanks to Him for what he has done or is doing?

There are plenty of examples of people praying to ask for something in the Bible (the Lord's Prayer, among others), so I see that it is common/expected. I even remember an elder telling my junior high class one time that if you get enough people to "badger God," He'll give you what you're asking for (though even then that seemed like the wrong attitude). But a question that arises is when we earnestly ask God for something, aren't we asking Him to change His plans to better accommodate our's?

I keep thinking of the verse that reads, "If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7.11) This verse seems to say in the same breath that God knows better than we do what we need, yet we should ask Him for what we think is best anyway. (The paragraph this verse is in also starts, "Ask and it will be given to you,...") It almost seems oxymoronic (is that a word?).

The only logic I can come up with for why we should verbalize opinions He already knows is so that we are reminded of His influence and power. But it doesn't seem fitting that when Jesus prayed, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me," just to remind Himself that God has that much power. When I read that verse, I read it as someone who is pleading to that Power to intervene.

So why?

I'll continue to ask for things in my prayers since I've found more in scripture guiding me to than not, but I really want to hear from anyone who has something to say on this.

Posted 7/12/2007 1:42 AM - 4 comments

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4 Comments

Maybe God doesn't have a specific plan in every instance.

A or B could happen as long as we get to C. We might have a preference between A and B, so we let God know. Things might have looked like they were heading toward A, but God intercedes for us and makes B happen.

This isn't based on any scripture, I was just thinking...

Posted 7/12/2007 8:03 AM by theanimation - reply

I think that there are many different facets to prayer and requests is one of those facets! My cousin once showed me something - her prayer notebook! It had different sections in it - praise, thanks, requests, and a couple of others that I cannot remember at the moment, but you get the idea! She did her best to write in each section every day!

I think that a lot of times, as humans, we get caught in the trap of thinking that prayer ONLY consists of the requests part! This is a dangerous trap to fall into! Think about this - if you had a friend and the ONLY time that that friend ever talked to you was to make requests of you and ask you for things, would you grant those requests? You would be less likely to give them what they ask for, wouldn't you? That's not a real relationship - only making requests of someone and the other saying yes or no! While I do think that God encourages us to ask for things that we want ("Ask and it shall be given unto you"), I don't believe that he intends that to be the extent of our relationship with him! Jonathan, God's in love with us! When you're in love with someone, you want to give them what they want (as long as it's in their best interests, of course) and you do your best to make them happy! One thing that I've learned when working with kids is that you do your best to say yes to their requests as often as possible! As long as they are not hurting themselves or someone else by getting this thing that they're asking for, why can't they have it? I think it kind of works the same way with God! Like you said, he knows exactly what we need and want and he has the ability to give it all to us too! As long as it doesn't hurt him, us, or our relationship with him, why would he say no?

Sorry...I know that this is long and may not even make sense, but there's my 2, well, no, it's more than 2 - we'll say 4 cents on the matter! :)

Posted 7/12/2007 1:55 PM by Chelleismness - reply

i have my own thoughts about the omniscience of God... but i don't want to start any xanga controversy, so i'll leave it at that.

Posted 7/13/2007 8:18 AM by thethirdwoman - reply

I believe that prayer is powerful. So much so that our prayers can influence God to change his mind. I know that sounds arrogant to think that humans can influence God but there are examples of it in the Bible. In Exodus after Aaron and the Israelits built the golden calf idol, it says the Lord's anger burned against them and he had plans to destroy them. But Moses seeks the favor of the Lord and pleads for God not to bring the destruction he had planned. And God does what Moses requests. It says the Lord relented and spares the Israelites. If Moses had not requested this, I believe God would have destroyed them and histroy would look quite different. God still would have fulfilled his promise to Abraham but in a different way. So, maybe God wants us to bring our requests to him not only as a way for us to rely on his power, but as a way for us to be a part of his influence in the world. Maybe Jesus prayed that the cup should pass from him so that God would change his plans, thinking that God would find another way to deliver the sins of the world so he wouldn't have to suffer the angony of the cross. (That's why I think he prefaced the prayer with, "If it is possible") Unfortunately, for Jesus (but forturnatly for us) there was no other alternative. How great God must love us if he allows our requets to influence his work!

Posted 7/13/2007 4:38 PM by cominguptails - reply

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