On the subject of Prayer

[Not_Now.Soon]

On a different forum site, I got in a conversation regarding prayer with an atheist. He made the point that unanswered prayer might not mean that God sometimes says "no" (a point I made earlier), but that it might be because God doesn't exist. The specific poster also said that he use to be a Christian but stopped believing because he realized he had no rationelle to believe. It didn't stand to reason.

With this in mind, I want this kind of experience to dwindle away. That people don't walk away from faith because thay have no solid roots in it being true. Which leads to the counter point and the reason I'm starting this thread.

If unanswered prayer (for anyone) gives the posibility that God doesn't exist, then answered prayer must exclaim the point that God is real. Let us share our experiences and our conclusions regarding prayer so that we may all be strengthened by them and not lose anyone because philosophical arguments against faith became stronger then their actual faith. Let our experiences make us strong in our faith.

I'll start in my next post, (since I already wrote it out for that other conversation). But I want the focus to be on our experiences and our conclusions regarding prayer. Thanks in advance.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

When I was almost two years old, I had a head injury was in the hospital and after doctors worked to save my life I was in a coma. Though I wasn't part of the prayers I am told that family and friends of my parents, and two faith communities had the accident in their prayers. After two weeks I woke up. According to my parents I said something that I would say back then. Because of that they knew I was still the same boy, and was ok. I do take this as an answer to my parents prayers, and I also think God was involved with the doctors when they performed surgery to relieve swelling, as well as any of the other medical needs that happened.

Some time later when I was still young, I was down. And though I can't remember the details of why, I do remember a prayer that God would take my life. Instead I got a different reaction. The feelings I had were overcome by a feeling of love and compassion. In a way it's like the feeling you get when hugged on a really bad day, only exaggerate that feeling. The bible talks about the peace and love from God. I think this was it. Since then while still growing up whenever I felt depressed and prayed for God's help he gave me that kind of love and peacefulness.

On one occasion a nonbeliever said a feeling of God is not actually anything. Possibly hopeful thinking at best, but let me tell you, these feelings are worth noting to a person who held occasional episodes of mild depression. They were not my own feelings because my own feelings were already there just getting me down. There are other times and other kinds of feelings I've gotten. For now, if anyone holds any doubts, keep in consideration the kind of answers a that deal on a feeling. Our experiences and others might have more merit then you give them.

(Continued...)

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

High school drama of a relationship coupled with an idealistic mindset for what love is eventually set me up to an emotionally negative aftermath when the relationship ended. I had prayed for God to help me and that I didn't want that kind of anger to continue to grow inside me. He answered. Not just a feeling like an emotion. But a sensation none the less in my head. The best I can explain it is that after the prayer, and the following day, I held all the memories I had before regarding the relationship I was in, and I could think about why I should be angry about it. But instead there wasn't an emotion there. It was like God had given me a blank slate regarding the relationship. I didn't try to regain the anger or other emotions. God helped me let go, and so I did.

There are a few times that I know God answered a prayer request.
I'll share two right now, (partly because it's already what I have written down, and partly because they are neither fantastic nor change any insight regarding prayer.

One was after a wedding celebration driving home, I was tired and scared of falling asleep at the wheel or drive dangerously I said a quick prayer, and like a shot of coffee I was awake and alert for the rest of the drive as well as an hour or so afterwards. The other is a prayer for my mom when she started her own house cleaning business and worked for my grandma. Mom's relationship with my grandma was becoming strained. One day I asked her how it was going and she said it was doing fine. Nothing had changed, but she felt ok with my grandma anyways. These two prayers I share because they show

1). Praying can create physical changes not just feelings
And 2). That prayers for other people also work, so it's not an observation of believing and deceiving ourself to think it really happened.

__________

thanks for reading. Hope to see some more from others too.

 

[WIP]

I have been a member of a men's gospel chorus since about 1996, give or take. Seven years ago during the winter our choir director experienced an incident that changed his life. One morning on his way to work while driving down a rather busy state highway (MN23 near Marshall, MN) he began to notice his right leg quivering. Thinking it was a muscle cramp he grabbed his leg to apply pressure behind his knee hoping to relax the muscles. All of a sudden things went severely downhill. The right side of his body became totally rigid forcing his foot to push the accelerator to the floor. He was completely unable to do anything about it even though he was fully conscious. He said he swerved into the on-coming traffic and eventually ended up in the ditch missing a power pole by mere inches before getting stuck in the deep snow.

Another person that saw the events unfold stopped and reported that when she approached, the car was still revving out of control. After examination it was determined that he had suffered a grand mal seizure resulting from a tumor in his brain about the size of a baseball. Further testing revealed that it was cancerous and due to extensions from the tumor being intermingled so deeply into his brain, it was inoperable. He was told the cancer was a very aggressive type and he was given a terminal prognosis of 2 to 4 weeks. The decision was made to initiate chemical and radiation therapy.

When we heard about it at the next practice (we only practice once a month), as a group of about 20 we gathered around him, laid hands on him, and prayed for him.

A couple weeks later, his wife told us that he was at home in the bathroom one day and suddenly she heard him yell out something. Thinking something was wrong she went in to check on him, and found that he was ecstatic with joy, dancing, and crying out, "I'm going to live! I'm going to live!" He received revelation and it changed his life.

He was a very respected Christian man before this and anyone that met him knew he was a Christian but from that day forward he began to share the gospel with even more enthusiasm than he did before. He used his experience with the tumor as a launching pad for sharing the gospel. As time went on, the tumor which was supposed to have taken his life began to weaken and shrink and to this day he has been in remission and doctors are unable to provide any scientific explanation.

For me, it truly demonstrates the power of prayer, that God truly does exist, and He does answer prayer when it serves His will.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

My life has been one miracle after another.
I'll never lose my faith, that's for sure.
But I'll share what happened recently to both me and my wife.
About 6-7 months ago, my wife suddenly went blind.
Totally blind.
I prayed for her, not emotionally, but quiet deliberate prayer.
After about ten minutes her eye sight came back.
We went to an eye specialist.
He said my wife had a stroke that went into her eye and blinded her.
Under normal circumstances, the blood clot would have stayed there and then expanded into her brain to paralyze her.
He said it was nothing short of a miracle that the clot somehow must have dissolved and went through her body.
He had never heard of it happening before.
My wife can't stop talking about it, God's glory is heard everywhere.

So then on March 3rd of this year, I had stomach pain and went to the emergency room.
As fate would have it (God would have it no other way), a vascular surgeon was standing there, saw me come in, and knew immediately to rush me into surgery.
I had an aorta aneurysm that was 10 inches in diameter.
He said they normally burst and the patient dies at 6 inches.
He called it an absolute miracle, never heard of anyone surviving as I had.
After the surgery he said to me, "stop complaining of the pain, you should be dead. Keep saying to myself I'm alive."

I too tell everyone of my ordeal, giving God all the glory.

 

[reba]

 

[Wrg1405]

My life has been one miracle after another.
I'll never lose my faith, that's for sure.
But I'll share what happened recently to both me and my wife.
About 6-7 months ago, my wife suddenly went blind.
Totally blind.
I prayed for her, not emotionally, but quiet deliberate prayer.
After about ten minutes her eye sight came back.
We went to an eye specialist.
He said my wife had a stroke that went into her eye and blinded her.
Under normal circumstances, the blood clot would have stayed there and then expanded into her brain to paralyze her.
He said it was nothing short of a miracle that the clot somehow must have dissolved and went through her body.
He had never heard of it happening before.
My wife can't stop talking about it, God's glory is heard everywhere.

So then on March 3rd of this year, I had stomach pain and went to the emergency room.
As fate would have it (God would have it no other way), a vascular surgeon was standing there, saw me come in, and knew immediately to rush me into surgery.
I had an aorta aneurysm that was 10 inches in diameter.
He said they normally burst and the patient dies at 6 inches.
He called it an absolute miracle, never heard of anyone surviving as I had.
After the surgery he said to me, "stop complaining of the pain, you should be dead. Keep saying to myself I'm alive."

I too tell everyone of my ordeal, giving God all the glory.

Thank you Jesus.

I am welling up.

 

[Michael74]

At work I once fell through a floor grate, trapping my leg. I was too far away from my coworkers for them to hear me. I called out to the Lord for help. As soon as I called out the floor grate shifted and freed my leg. God is watching over us.

 

[th1b.taylor]

I have MS and have been in the Final Stage R&R MSe, where it becomes Progressive with six months to live. That was '08 or '09 I don't recall ut believe that doctor did not consult Jesus before pronouncing me dead.

And recently I was really low and sure the time was close when somebody touched my pillow. Thinking it was my wife I was going to tell her that I loved her but there was no one in my bedroom but me and hen that warm feeling came over me and I just knew it was reassurance from Him.

And when I was in Vietnam we inserted 42 into a site, just, inside Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail so they could pull an ambush a North Vietnamese Company known to be moving down the trail at night. The insertion was to be 250 men but we were so shot up that one f out Smiling Tigers told Battalion we were looking more like Tea Strainers than Helicopters. The3 other helicopters full of men were turned back and we went back in and picked them up. If you wanna see God at, 42 c\Grunts and 24 crewmen and one with a minor wound, only Gos can do a thing like that.

 

[Edward]

Geez, where would I start? I've had the Lord answer my prayers so many times that I lost count. Some were minor and could be denied by naysayers...(I know differently), and others were major (to me at least!) but they could be denied too by hardcore naysayers (LOL). I have so many, that I'll write a summation and if anyone wants the details on a particular one just say so and I will tell the whole story.

1. Saved my life in a terrible auto accident when I had a grand mal seizure at 70 mph on the highway. I would have died had I not cried out to the Lord, Lord be with me...
2. Delivered to me a pound of coffee when I was out. (I didn't pray for it. I thought to, but then remembered that He takes care of us so I didn't, and He still sent it, in less than an hour!).
3. He had an Angel come to my garage sale and over pay me for my merchandise so that I could pay mu back rent and utilities. (within two hours of praying...$2400 dollars!)
4. He changed my Bible from an NIV version to a NKJV. (there's two witnesses to this!)
5. He translated me one time and let me drive to and from an important appointment when the truck was out of gas.
6. He kept my son from being arrested. We were enroute to work and he had a warrant (and knew it), but I needed him that day and prayed for his freedom. The cop did find the warrant, but did not arrest him...because I prayed.
7. I don't get around as good as I used to since the accident, and was feeling like I wanted to do something for the Lord to help, so prayed and he sent someone to my house for me to witness to. (Within 10 minutes!)
8. He gave me $400 cash for bills that I needed, and prayed for.
9. He let me drive over 1200 miles road trip on bald tires with no problems. I prayed for it, and in my minds eye seen a bubble of protection form around my truck.
10. I had a utility shut off notice for a certain day and prayed for work so I could pay it. No work came but I wasn't shut off. A week later, I called them to ask why and was told that they looked at my payment history and can see that I do pay if I have it, so they decided to give me more time...(Wow). He didn't answer that prayer like I wanted/expected Him too, instead of sending work he softened their hearts! Lol
11. Stopped and paid my tithes one time, when I couldn't really afford to (HA!), and before I drove out of the church parking lot, I got more work.
12. He reset my hip which was out of joint after falling from a 10' ladder when I had a seizure. No insurance and not enough dough to go get it fixed. I hobbled around the house for 3 days or so before praying to be healed as i slept. I was awoken with my hip on fire and it was HOT! He reset it for me and I was sore for a couple days but it got better fast.

Like I said, some of these seem minor and will get P'shawed, but I know in my heart that it was a move of God, which is why I wrote them and shared. This has done a lot for my faith. God is alive and well and doing miracles every day all over earth. U-Tube is overflowing with healing testimonies.
Glory to God!!!

 

[Wrg1405]

I could list many an answer to prayer but I am going to post this.

I had a shocking upbringing.
My mother fell pregnant with me out of wedlock. Very shameful for a Muslim girl.
She was told to abort me and almost did but walked out of the room used to carry out abortions. And she was more or less considered the black sheep of the family and shunned.

She always blamed me and shunned me as well and threw me out when I was 14.
Not once did she tell me she loved and was very harsh with discipline to me, yet she loved my two brothers.

When I sought counselling with our Pastor because I was really struggling he said "As I was praying about meeting me God asked my to ask you What about your Mother?

I replied "I am dead to her and she to me"
He said you need to forgive her and told me get a sheet of paper and write down everything that comes to mind and hurts, then tick it off and when finished burn the sheet of paper.

I set aside a Saturday, started out about 9 and finished about 6.
I went to bed totally exhausted.

As I laid my head on my pillow God said to me "Ask me how I feel about your mum"
So I did and he laid on my heart his heart for my mum.

I cried and cried, I started to feel the pain and hurt he had for my mum.
I cried constantly for around 8 hours.

As I cried and cried and cried I found myself praying "God heal my mum, heal our relationship, may she find you"

God answered those prayers, our relationship is fully restored, we tell each other we love each other and parsie our Father she now believes Jesus is the son of God who died and rose for her and not just a prophet.

She doesn't go to church because she is hard of hearing and doesn't fully understand the theology that is taught but that doesn't stop her talking about Jesus.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

I could list many an answer to prayer but I am going to post this.

I had a shocking upbringing.
My mother fell pregnant with me out of wedlock. Very shameful for a Muslim girl.
She was told to abort me and almost did but walked out of the room used to carry out abortions. And she was more or less considered the black sheep of the family and shunned.

She always blamed me and shunned me as well and threw me out when I was 14.
Not once did she tell me she loved and was very harsh with discipline to me, yet she loved my two brothers.

When I sought counselling with our Pastor because I was really struggling he said "As I was praying about meeting me God asked my to ask you What about your Mother?

I replied "I am dead to her and she to me"
He said you need to forgive her and told me get a sheet of paper and write down everything that comes to mind and hurts, then tick it off and when finished burn the sheet of paper.

I set aside a Saturday, started out about 9 and finished about 6.
I went to bed totally exhausted.

As I laid my head on my pillow God said to me "Ask me how I feel about your mum"
So I did and he laid on my heart his heart for my mum.

I cried and cried, I started to feel the pain and hurt he had for my mum.
I cried constantly for around 8 hours.

As I cried and cried and cried I found myself praying "God heal my mum, heal our relationship, may she find you"

God answered those prayers, our relationship is fully restored, we tell each other we love each other and parsie our Father she now believes Jesus is the son of God who died and rose for her and not just a prophet.

She doesn't go to church because she is hard of hearing and doesn't fully understand the theology that is taught but that doesn't stop her talking about Jesus.

Awesome testimony.