Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A question on prayer

In Matthew and Luke, Jesus teaches the Apostles how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer. He tells them not to ask God for anything, since He knows what we need.

How does this admonition square with prayer requests for friends and family? And make no mistake, I believe in the power of prayer, I’m just trying to do it right.

Thoughts?




P

Just keep praying. God knows your needs and desires better than us.

I ask, mind you, sometimes the answer is wait. The Good Lord knows best.

I believe both instances that the prayer is a pattern to pray after, in similar fashion, I do not recall reading where we are "not to ask God for anything since he knows what we need" I know that he knows what we need before we pray...

Prayer... God has decided what is best for us. The divine plan set forth for us was made even before our time in the womb.

My prayers are to give me the strength to endure the suffering that WILL come my way and to conversely give thanks for the blessings that WILL come my way.

Pharmseller;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope that the morning down in your section of the Willamette Valley is as clear and still as the Okanagan is up here at present.

With the understanding up front here that these are only my thoughts and I know a fair bit less than nothing about this and most other things too for that matter.

My late father was someone who I personally heard praying for hours. It perplexed me as a young teen and now into my 60's it's still something I am amazed by.

With him - I believe - it was his way of conversing and communing with God.

As a couple "for instances" Dad told me a few times that if he didn't spend as much time praying for a pastor as he spent listening to the message, he didn't really expect to get much out of it. He'd pray for each of us kids and our spouses and each grandchild and their spouses by name every day.

More or less as I understood it, he'd pray that God would make Himself real to them, to meet their needs and to give them peace to deal with whatever it was they had on their respective plate that day. That was unless he knew of a specific thing to pray for, but then Dad would still pray that God would grant them peace in the event that the answer was "No".

Sometimes that's the answer isn't it? I mean "No" or "Not this time" is going to be the answer in some instances and so it made sense to pray for peace and strength as well to walk down the path laid for them.

Anyways, just a few thoughts from a semi-old guy who hasn't figured out a lot of things myself, but mostly I pray for wisdom to know what to do, courage to do what I believe I'm supposed to do and then for peace to accept the outcome, whatever it might be.

It's a good question though and I'll look back in to see what others think about it.

All the best.

Dwayne

It doesn't work. Next question...

Also in Psalm 66 David says:

Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

“… And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name ...” Mt. 6:5-15; Lk. 11:1.

But see:

“How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” the disciples asked. “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. Jesus replied: “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Mk. 11:12-25; Mt. 21:12-22; Lk. 19:45-48.

The so called Lord's Prayer is a model we should follow. God knows what we need but He want's us to pray believing that He can answer our requests. We should pray according to His will, that means not selfishly and not for things we know from His word are not His will. Our prayer should be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because our access to the throne of grace is only through Him. God will answer our prayer in His time and according to His will. Often we pray and we don't receive an answer, that could be because it is not His timing, we are not asking according to His will, we ask with wrong motives, that we may squander it on our pleasures, or our walk is not as it should be and we lost fellowship with Him. Prayer is fellowship with God and co-working together with Him. To have fellowship we must walk in the light as He is in the light.

Yes,
What is known as "The Lord's Prayer", is not a prayer at all but a way to pray. Jesus doesn't tell the disciples to repeat after him. He tells them to pray in this manner, or we would say today, "This is the way to pray."

It is an outline of how to pray . Jesus needed to explain it because the pharisees had made praying into endless repeating of specific prayers.

For example the part about God already knowing what you need isn't telling you not to ask but to know that you aren't trying to con God or convince him of what you want and need. The part of "give us today our daily bread is an example of asking for all you need today. It isn't saying all you need is a piece of dry bread.

The Lord's prayer is just a framework. It's a 'how to', not a 'what for'. Anything in it can be substituted for what you need. The disciples were trained to pray like the Pharisees and Jesus was teaching them how to pray correctly.

While God knows what we need, he also wants to be asked in a worshipful manner. Be prepared for a 'NO' for an answer since God knows what's best for us. Paul was mostly blind and God told him 'no' when Paul prayed for healing.

I pray for family and friends and I believe in it.

Now you are just making [bleep] up. The bible never said Paul was blind. You get that from when he mentioned what a large letter, he had written combined with his praying for God to make a demon leave him alone. Paul called the demon a thorn in the flesh. Paul wasn't saying he had such bad sight he had to print first grade letters. He was simply saying that he had a lot to say in this letter.

I swear this kind of religious crap just ticks me off. If you want to believe the Bible, at least be smart enough to know what it really says instead of what your particular denomination teaches.

Perhaps you could read a book called, And These Signs Will Follow. It has many answers to prayer. The title comes from Jesus' Words recorded at the end of Mark's Gospel.



Saint Paul prayed for the salvation of Jews. But, perhaps my answer will be blaspheme to many here. I am the author of the book mentioned above containing a couple dozen fantastic "Yes" answers to prayer. Nevertheless, I came to the conclusion when Jesus told Saint Peter, "What you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven," was meant for him and the other apostles. The same thought applies to, "Whatever you ask in My Name, I will do it that the Father will be glorified."

I have been a Christian for almost fifty years and still finish prayers, "In Jesus Name, Amen." After all, God's Word tells us, "There is no mediator between God and man, except the Lord Jesus Christ." But due to hundreds if not thousands of "No," answers from God I changed my mind to the present belief.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe God answers prayer with "Yes" occasionally. It's just that there are so few "Yes" answers, I recently decided to look at Scripture more carefully.

I believe that, like all aspects of Christian religion, the relationship between God and an individual is just that - individual. Each person has individual needs to travels life's journey in the best way that he/she can. Nobody nor no body can tell an individual (although they certainly try) exactly what the Bible says, how to pray, or how to conduct his/her relationship with God. God created people with a brain to use in deciphering His Word and in developing their relationship with Him. We are not perfect, and as I've said before, I believe that striving is looked upon favorably.

Do so with faith, sincerity, and in a humble manner.

Be careful of what you pray for because you might just get it. God will sometimes give us things we ask for just to show us why we don't need them.

I have never prayed for anything specific. Even when loved ones were on their deathbed, I asked God to comfort the sick and prepare loved ones to accept whatever he felt was best.

There is nothing at all in scripture that tells you that God sometimes answers no. You just think that because sometimes you don't know why your prayers are sometimes answered and sometimes not answered.


There is scripture that says all God's promises are yes and amen. Scripture also tells you why your prayers aren't answered in James 4:3-3 and in James 1:8