I’ve always believed in God but I’ve never really attended church in my adult years. I’ve wanted to recently but I’ve moved to an area where I’m very limited. Long story short, I don’t know many Christians so I don’t really have anyone to ask these questions to. I’ve always heard that God’s will will always happen , no matter what. I’ve seen a lot people asking ‘what’s the point in prayer if God's will happens anyway’ etc etc. That’s not exactly my question because I understand the importance of prayer but what’s the point in changing etc if whatever He wants to happen in my life, will happen anyway? It makes me feel like I could just sit on the couch all day and His way will happen anyway. I’m sorry if it’s sounds confusing. English isn’t my first language and I struggle to put into words what I’m trying to explain. I hope someone will understand and care to give some clarity.
Your English is good.
Some mistakenly teach that God is absolutely sovereign, as if every sparrow’s fall is by his direct command. To oversimplify, that idea was ‘out of date’ as soon as God created creatures which could choose, for by giving freedom to choose he delegated sovereignty (Mt.8:9—we’re like that centurion). Indeed we are able to say Yes or No to God, able to defeat his love for us. So his sovereignty is relative.
Have you read
Jeremiah 18? In short, Yahweh (God’s name) said that he could plan to bless or to punish, but if the other party changed towards him (became much worse or much better), he’d change his plans for them. That is, not all his plans were fixed. We might say that some were pencilled in.
If we plan a calendar, we might write things we’ll not change, as well as things we might change. God has some plans he won’t change, such as Christ’s return. But he has many things, as
per Jr.18, which he can change.
If we pray for Christ’s return (Rv.22:20), our prayer won’t make it happen, but our prayer verbalises that we are in line with God’s sovereign plan, and helps us dwell on God’s plans and living life with him. If we humbly pray for physical healing, whether or not God had written that into his calendar as a possible, he will consider our request, and maybe decide to grant it.
He doesn’t always intervene. Sometimes he intervenes. He is a semi-interventionalist. In the whole battle when Israelis and Jews fought together, God directed only one arrow (1 Kg.22:34). Usually he directs by set laws (eg gravity, conscience), occasionally stepping into human history, such as in choosing Abraham, or arranging the incarnation.
In Gethsemane, Jesus did not know whether that garden ordeal was one he had to go through, so he asked his father to save him from it, but, he added, if that torment was part of God’s plan, his will, then far better God’s will be done than Jesus’ merely human wish. If even Jesus didn’t always know his father’s plan in full detail, how much less do we know it? And so we let our many requests be known unto God, expressing our wishes and submitting them for his consideration (Php.4:6). Some things won’t happen unless we have asked for them.
Prayer is interacting with God, seeking to align with him more in our personal lives and mission. That is a privilege that we humans have. And asking for stuff is only one type of prayer. Prayer can be praise, complaint, worship, adoration, gratitude, chat, etc.