Pastor John
-
Dear Poiema,
I have a burning question that I have been wanting to ask you . . . Prayer . . . Why do you pray? If God know what the future holds then why? I know the main foundation of prayer is that it is our way of talking with Him, communing with Him and keeping that intimate relationship open. Though where I seem to falter is when a person is ill and people gather in pray what good are we actually doing. If God is all knowing then wouldn’t he already know if that person lives or dies, does God ever take into consideration our prayers and our wishes? And if not then why do we pray for other people and ourselves? - June 10, 2008 8:45 AM
-
This is a very good and highly practical question. I think we have to begin by asking "what is prayer?" At its core, what is the essence of prayer? Thoughts?
pastor john - June 10, 2008 10:24 AM
-
Pray at its core is to worship God and to meditate on Him and what he does for us. I believe in miracles and I believe that pray can help. It is God’s will that we pray and keep the faith by praying for the hungry and the poor. Maybe praying is not so black and white but a middleman to be with God and to do God’s will.
- June 11, 2008 11:49 AM
-
I agree. Prayer is fundamentally our life line with God. Prayer is the means by which our soul communes with Him. This is why the Lord's Prayer (a model prayer outline in Matthew 6) focuses on our union with God and submission to Him. Sometimes it is easy to reduce prayer to communicating our wish list to God. We can start to think that if God doesn't answer a particular prayer as we would like, then He must not be listening, doesn't care, or that our prayers are meaningless. I find it interesting that Jesus promises that God answers every prayer with a resounding "yes" (see Matthew 7:7-11). The challenge for us to receive His answer, even when His "yes" doesn't match up with ours.
The longer I walk with God, the more I understand that His will and purposes are best for me. Therefore, even when I don't get the "result" from prayer that I might have desired, I know that my prayers are always effective in drawing me closer to the Lord and cultivating God's will in my life.
Much more to say on the topic. I'll stop for now.
