What power is there in prayer?

[stovebolts]

I'll start out by saying that I am extremely disappointed and am beginning to doubt the power of prayer...

I don't get it and I don't understand and I'm frustrated. I don't think I'm praying for things that wouldn't or couldn't honor God. I know of lots of people that can pray for a parking spot and they get it, but when I pray earnestly for something that really matters, I feel like I'm being denied.

I have two things that I've been praying hard about. One of them I've prayed daily with earnest and the situation just gets worse and the other one I pray often. I'll even wake up in the middle of the night in prayer. Where is God and why am I being denied?

I don't get it.. God answers stupid prayers for a parking spot but he can't answer a prayer for something with weight. I'm just very discouraged. Should I really start praying for stupid things like a parking spot?

What is bringing this to a head was something that happened yesterday. It will probably sound stupid and silly, and I'll admit in the scope of life, it's probably as silly as asking for a parking spot. Here it is.

My son is a wrestler. He's been wrestling since he was 5. Last year he didn't make it to State because he was .1 pound over his weight class and that bumped him into the next weight class and he got two of the toughest kids right out of the box. 2 losses back to back and your out. It was devastating to him.

My boy is a hard worker and determined. He wanted to stay in wrestling after season so essentially he wrestled all last spring, summer and fall until the season started again this winter just to make sure he had what it took to make it to state this year. BTW, this was his last year to make State with both leagues (MMWA and MYWAY) because next year he'll be in high school.

Yesterday was Regionals for MMWA and in a nutshell, he lost his first two matches which means he isn't going to state for MMWA. The second match was totally bogus. He was dominating this kid and was ahead 10 to 5 in the 3rd period. Somehow or another his shoe got pulled off (It's slick with just socks) and the kid took advantage of it. Also, the table messed up the scoring (they did that early in the 1st, but the Ref had it adjusted). He lost 14-11.

I don't get it. We pray that he will do well and that he'll be safe before every match. We don't expect to win every match, but we did expect to go to state. And we didn't expect to have the table mess up on the points and for him to loose his shoe.

We worked hard and we prayed hard just to get to state... We prayed that the Glory would go to God for his wins... It's just so very disapointing and I'm building resentment. Why should I continue to pray when my prayers are constantly being denied.

Next Saturday we have Regionals for MYWAY and that's our last chance for State in that League as well. I don't even believe in the power of prayer anymore and I feel like if I ask God for my son to at least place so he can go to State I'm just setting myself up for further disapointment. I'm just loosing my faith and I'm angry.

Frustrated.

 

[Ryan]

Are you praying for God's will to be done, or your will?

You said the Glory would go to God would for his wins, what about for the losses?

 

[reba]

Stove we share much.... I have had the same 'feelings' many times over the years... It is only via hind sight I see His mighty hand over my life..

 

[farouk]

The Lord Jesus Himself 'ever liveth to make intercession' (Hebrews 7.25) and He is working His purposes out continually. So our prayerful attitude should be 'Thy will be done', rather than 'my will be done'.

 

[WIP]

I think about when Israel was in Egyptian captivity. They prayed for 400 years before God finally answered by bringing Moses on the scene. We are too quick to give up sometimes. God works in His time.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

The power of prayer is manifest not through faith, not through sincerity, not through length or verbiage. It is manifested through God's will. That's a tough thing for us to swallow sometimes, because we see our prayers as being perfectly within the will of God and can't imagine why God doesn't just immediately say "YES!" Well, perhaps it doesn't fit His timing, perhaps He wants to see more commitment from us, perhaps He sees the request as detrimental to our overall growth even though we can't see that at all.

Why wouldn't God answer prayer? After all, consider these passages:

Luke 1 NASB
37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."

Luke 18
1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart ...

Philippians 4
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

James 1
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Matthew 6
10 'Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven."

John 14
13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."

James 5
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Psalm 18
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Psalm 17
6 I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God;
Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

Psalm 34
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
​

A teaching among many of the more charismatic churches is that the amount of faith we have determines whether or not God will answer our prayers. This concept, however, ignores several evidences to the contrary, both in Scripture and in practical experience. For example, sometimes the Lord answers our prayers when we have had little or no faith at all that He would act as we desire. Scriptural examples abound, most notably in Acts 12, Peter's friends gather in a prayer group to beseech the Lord to release Peter from Pilate's prison (v. 5). God indeed responds as asked (vv. 7-11). Peter goes to the door of the prayer meeting and knocks. What do the church members do? They refuse at first to believe that it is really Peter. They asked God for his release, but they failed to expect an answer to their prayers.

Let me reiterate what I said at the outset: The power of prayer does not flow from us. Answers are not depending on what we say, how we say it, or on the direction, posture or reasons we adopt for praying. We don't have to have candles, icons or bead in front of us when we pray. We don't even have to kneel and fold our hands reverently.

The power of prayer comes from the omnipotent One who hears our prayers and answers them. When we pray, no matter with what attitude physically, location geographically, or environment spiritually, we place ourselves before the throne of the Almighty God. We should, therefore, expect almighty results, regardless of what the actual answer is that God gives! Whatever the answer to our prayers, the God to whom we pray is the source of the power of prayer, and He can and will answer us, according to His perfect will and timing.

That may not be in our timing, it may not be in the way we would desire or imagine. If our prayers are not being answered, I would suggest they actually are being answered. Just not the way we think they should be answered. To see the positive responses we are expecting, we may have to travel a road that is less than beckoning to us. In fact, it may be torture. But the result will nonetheless be an almighty blessing to us, if we are patient and allow God to be who He is, and trust that His ways are higher than ours, and always in our best interest.

Laura Story's currently popular song "Blessings" captures this concept perfectly.

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?
​

 

[stovebolts]

Are you praying for God's will to be done, or your will?

You said the Glory would go to God would for his wins, what about for the losses?

I was praying that my son would make it to state since it was his last year in the league after wrestling in the league for 8 years. After 8 years is asking that he make it to state one stinking time too much? Or was it my failure to pray that his shoe stays on? 8 years of wrestling and I've never seen a shoe come off. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a shoe to come off? And then add to that the table screwed up the scoring. Life isn't fair, I know that. I'm just tired of it.

As far as the glory, we pray that all the glory go to God whether he wins or looses. Sorry though because right now I don't have the faith of Jerimiah... Having a tough time praising God at the moment.

This was just the thing that set me off yesterday. I have two other things that I'm not going to mention (Reba knows) and I'm just tired of it. Tired of working and trying so hard just to be rewarded with thorns. Does this make sense? Ever worked hard and even had the "right" attitude and your reward was a kick in the face? It gets old... and I'm venting. Is it ok to be honest?

 

[farouk]

S: Put it this way: first consider all the blessings for which we should be so thankful.

Then consider: why should God, Who never makes a mistake and never causes a needless tear, be presumed to have to conform to your wishes, rather than the other way round, if we are truly praying 'Thy will be done'?

 

[reba]

Is it ok to be honest?

Not only is it OK it is good....even when we don't like it

 

[stovebolts]

The Lord Jesus Himself 'ever liveth to make intercession' (Hebrews 7.25) and He is working His purposes out continually. So our prayerful attitude should be 'Thy will be done', rather than 'my will be done'.

So it's ok to ask for a front row parking spot, but we shouldn't ask for things that really matter? Why does God grant the person seeking a front row parking spot in the mall their prayer, when people pray every day that world hunger would come to an end, yet people die every day from hunger when it doesn't have to be. Listen, I understand suffering and I understand how God works through suffering. The Bible tells story after story of God's children suffering. What you speak of is an easy biblical concept, but to live it takes endurance. It's not a fun place to be.

 

[farouk]

So it's ok to ask for a front row parking spot, but we shouldn't ask for things that really matter? Why does God grant the person seeking a front row parking spot in the mall their prayer, when people pray every day that world hunger would come to an end, yet people die every day from hunger when it doesn't have to be. Listen, I understand suffering and I understand how God works through suffering. The Bible tells story after story of God's children suffering. What you speak of is an easy biblical concept, but to live it takes endurance. It's not a fun place to be.

S:

Well, do you expect Christians on here to avoid Biblical advice and encourage people in resentment against God?

How about, for example, reading Ephesians 1, and then considering circumstances in the light of the big picture that a gracious God in Christ has under control?

 

[stovebolts]

S: Put it this way: first consider all the blessings for which we should be so thankful.

Then consider: why should God, Who never makes a mistake and never causes a needless tear, be presumed to have to conform to your wishes, rather than the other way round, if we are truly praying 'Thy will be done'?

Farouk,

I understand your words. I'm not looking for intellectual or head knowledge. Job didn't like it when everything around him caved in and I'm no better than Job. Not only that, but I don't have the faith of Abraham. No way would I ever sacrafice my only son "Whome I love".

Listen, let me help you out a bit. Do you want to help me? Do you want to help others when they are having a hard time? The first try and identify with them. Don't go trying to fix something before you identify. I doubt that your going to teach me anything about suffering and perhaps that's my mindset.

Tell me about the story of Joseph and how life wasn't fair to him, but how somehow or another he hung in there because God had a plan and a purpose for him that he couldn't see. I'm not ready to talk about how Joseph became second in command because that's not what I can identify with at the moment. I feel like Esau who just had his birthright stolen. Is it ok to feel this way?

 

[farouk]

Farouk,

I understand your words. I'm not looking for intellectual or head knowledge. Job didn't like it when everything around him caved in and I'm no better than Job. Not only that, but I don't have the faith of Abraham. No way would I ever sacrafice my only son "Whome I love".

Listen, let me help you out a bit. Do you want to help me? Do you want to help others when they are having a hard time? The first try and identify with them. Don't go trying to fix something before you identify. I doubt that your going to teach me anything about suffering and perhaps that's my mindset.

Tell me about the story of Joseph and how life wasn't fair to him, but how somehow or another he hung in there because God had a plan and a purpose for him that he couldn't see. I'm not ready to talk about how Joseph became second in command because that's not what I can identify with at the moment. I feel like Esau who just had his birthright stolen. Is it ok to feel this way?

S: I honestly thought I was trying to help you with Scripture.

Another thought I have is that the Psalms contain such an extraordinary range of human emotions.

 

[stovebolts]

S:

Well, do you expect Christians on here to avoid Biblical advice and encourage people in resentment against God?

How about, for example, reading Ephesians 1, and then considering circumstances in the light of the big picture that a gracious God in Christ has under control?

I am in resentment toward God at the moment. So far you've not given any advice in love and your starting to sounld like a clanging gong. You have the right answers, but your lacking compassion. You can be as right as right can be and still be wrong.

I don't say this to shame you Farouk. I"m saying this because people who resent God have a reason. I know that this season I'm in will end and I'll come to that place where hindsight kicks in. But it's not where I'm at. Right now I'm worn out and I'm looking for encouragment, not advice or head knowledge.

 

[farouk]

I am in resentment toward God at the moment. So far you've not given any advice in love and your starting to sounld like a clanging gong. You have the right answers, but your lacking compassion. You can be as right as right can be and still be wrong.

I don't say this to shame you Farouk. I"m saying this because people who resent God have a reason. I know that this season I'm in will end and I'll come to that place where hindsight kicks in. But it's not where I'm at. Right now I'm worn out and I'm looking for encouragment, not advice or head knowledge.

S:

I am not offended at you accusing me of a lack of compassion.

But the Scriptures are there for our help, strength and learning.

Your view of God at the moment is at odds with what Scripture reveals Him to be.

So whom do you expect Christians to agree with?

Do you really expect Christians to say to you: 'Hey, you're right! and God is wrong; never mind all that the Scriptures say about Him?' Really? where would be the true compassion be in this?

Philippians 2 is another passage that should move the believer to figure the deep cost to the Lord Jesus of all the believer's blessings in Christ.

 

[stovebolts]

The power of prayer is manifest not through faith, not through sincerity, not through length or verbiage. It is manifested through God's will. That's a tough thing for us to swallow sometimes, because we see our prayers as being perfectly within the will of God and can't imagine why God doesn't just immediately say "YES!" Well, perhaps it doesn't fit His timing, perhaps He wants to see more commitment from us, perhaps He sees the request as detrimental to our overall growth even though we can't see that at all.

Why wouldn't God answer prayer? After all, consider these passages:

Luke 1 NASB
37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."

Luke 18
1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart ...

Philippians 4
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

James 1
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Matthew 6
10 'Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven."

John 14
13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."

James 5
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Psalm 18
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Psalm 17
6 I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God;
Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

Psalm 34
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
​

A teaching among many of the more charismatic churches is that the amount of faith we have determines whether or not God will answer our prayers. This concept, however, ignores several evidences to the contrary, both in Scripture and in practical experience. For example, sometimes the Lord answers our prayers when we have had little or no faith at all that He would act as we desire. Scriptural examples abound, most notably in Acts 12, Peter's friends gather in a prayer group to beseech the Lord to release Peter from Pilate's prison (v. 5). God indeed responds as asked (vv. 7-11). Peter goes to the door of the prayer meeting and knocks. What do the church members do? They refuse at first to believe that it is really Peter. They asked God for his release, but they failed to expect an answer to their prayers.

Let me reiterate what I said at the outset: The power of prayer does not flow from us. Answers are not depending on what we say, how we say it, or on the direction, posture or reasons we adopt for praying. We don't have to have candles, icons or bead in front of us when we pray. We don't even have to kneel and fold our hands reverently.

The power of prayer comes from the omnipotent One who hears our prayers and answers them. When we pray, no matter with what attitude physically, location geographically, or environment spiritually, we place ourselves before the throne of the Almighty God. We should, therefore, expect almighty results, regardless of what the actual answer is that God gives! Whatever the answer to our prayers, the God to whom we pray is the source of the power of prayer, and He can and will answer us, according to His perfect will and timing.

That may not be in our timing, it may not be in the way we would desire or imagine. If our prayers are not being answered, I would suggest they actually are being answered. Just not the way we think they should be answered. To see the positive responses we are expecting, we may have to travel a road that is less than beckoning to us. In fact, it may be torture. But the result will nonetheless be an almighty blessing to us, if we are patient and allow God to be who He is, and trust that His ways are higher than ours, and always in our best interest.

Laura Story's currently popular song "Blessings" captures this concept perfectly.

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?
​

Thank you.

You know what I don't understand? Why does it feel like God answers all of my wife's prayers but for the most part I get the opposite of what I pray for? I'm serious. Ever know somebody who's just on fire and they pray for every little thing around them and they get what they pray for? Honestly, and I know I'm sounding like a spoiled brat, but I don't feel like God answers my prayers the way I want them answered. What I see time and time is again is that I pray for something good, and I get thorns. My endurance is just a little thin right now.

Ironically, I went to lunch by myself today at a Thia restaurant. Your not going to believe my fortune cookie...

Win as if you were used to it,
loose as if you enjoyed it for a change.

Ironic huh?

 

[stovebolts]

S:

I am not offended at you accusing me of a lack of compassion.

But the Scriptures are there for our help, strength and learning.

Your view of God at the moment is at odds with what Scripture reveals Him to be.

So whom do you expect Christians to agree with?

Do you really expect Christians to say to you: 'Hey, you're right! and God is wrong; never mind all that the Scriptures say about Him?' Really? where would be the true compassion be in this?

Philippians 2 is another passage that should move the believer to figure the deep cost to the Lord Jesus of all the believer's blessings in Christ.

Does it offend you that I admit that I'm building resentment with God over my prayers? Am I now the enemy for feeling these feelings? Should I just lie and say I'm happy? Is this forum a safe place to be honest?

Would it offend you if I started making deals with God like Joseph. You know, treat me good and I'll serve you. Does Jacob offend you too?

 

[farouk]

Does it offend you that I admit that I'm building resentment with God over my prayers? Am I now the enemy for feeling these feelings? Should I just lie and say I'm happy? Is this forum a safe place to be honest?

Would it offend you if I started making deals with God like Joseph. You know, treat me good and I'll serve you. Does Jacob offend you too?

S: Well, friend, clearly my repeated references to the Scriptures, which I honestly thought were to help you, offend you instead.

I'm reminded of Luther's comment to Melanchthon that if the hearers of Biblical preacher are not offended by their own sin as a result of the Scriptures, they will be offended at the person presenting them instead.

Friend: you have this promise: I will pray for you.

PS: Here's another Scripture about a resource for the believer: 'For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Hebrews 4.15).

 

[stovebolts]

S: Well, friend, clearly my repeated references to the Scriptures, which I honestly thought were to help you, offend you instead.

I'm reminded of Luther's comment to Melanchthon that if the hearers of Biblical preacher are not offended by their own sin as a result of the Scriptures, they will be offended at the person presenting them instead.

Friend: you have this promise: I will pray for you.

PS: Here's another Scripture about a resource for the believer: 'For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Hebrews 4.15).

Friend,
I emplore you to listen. If I were Job, I would liken you to his friends. In particular to his friend that says Jobs calamity is due out of his own sins. I should not be as Job who harshly rebukes his friend for their limited understanding of God. Instead I should say that God is working through this ordeal for His good cause. Scripture states that all things work to the good for those who love God. Scripture also states that we should rejoice in our trials.

Brother, I am being tried at the moment and my endurance feels like it is being beaten down. I don't need a debate on scripture or how im wrong in feeling the way I feel. I need somebody to share and identify with my weakness. Somebody who will encourage me by way of resonating with scripture and not simply doctrine.

Do you understand this?

 

[farouk]

Friend,
I emplore you to listen. If I were Job, I would liken you to his friends. In particular to his friend that says Jobs calamity is due out of his own sins. I should not be as Job who harshly rebukes his friend for their limited understanding of God. Instead I should say that God is working through this ordeal for His good cause. Scripture states that all things work to the good for those who love God. Scripture also states that we should rejoice in our trials.

Brother, I am being tried at the moment and my endurance feels like it is being beaten down. I don't need a debate on scripture or how im wrong in feeling the way I feel. I need somebody to share and identify with my weakness. Somebody who will encourage my by was of resonating with scripture and not simply doctrine.

Do you understand this?

Friend, never mind what I say; let me just point you to the Lord Jesus: Hebrews 4.15, as referred to.