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Prayer
Jan 3, 2011 22:31:54 GMT -5
Post by Hannah McMichael on Jan 3, 2011 22:31:54 GMT -5
I was watching some DVD's from a grace pastor in CT, Rodney Beaulieu, and the one was on prayer in the grace age.
One of his points was that we should not pray to "traveling mercies", as in for protection for loved ones or ourselves, because Paul prayed for that and it did not help him once.
Another of his points was that we should not say "please" to God. It's like begging and we should not beg to God.
This has been bothering me. Doesn't the Bible say to "pray without ceasing" and to "cast all your cares upon him"?
I'd really love to hear everyone's thoughts on this. How are we supposed to pray? And what are we to pray for? Is pray to be only for worship? Are we to share our worries with God or not, and if not, *why* not?
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Prayer
Jan 3, 2011 23:58:06 GMT -5
Post by Rebecca on Jan 3, 2011 23:58:06 GMT -5
Philippians 4:6 gives at least part of the answer: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." I don't see any qualification on which requests are acceptable. The dictionary definition of pray includes the following: "to make earnest petition to (a person)... to make petition or entreaty for; crave: She prayed his forgiveness." ( dictionary.reference.com/browse/pray) This sounds quite a bit like pleading. Supplicate seems even stronger: "(1) to pray humbly; make humble and earnest entreaty or petition. (2) to pray humbly to; entreat or petition humbly. (3) to seek or ask for by humble entreaty." ( dictionary.reference.com/browse/supplicate) This verse is in the form of a command. We are supposed to pray for our concerns and--yes--requests. It is an act of worship to take our desires to God and leave them there in faith, faith that He will either fulfill them or give us what is even better.
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Prayer
Jan 4, 2011 14:37:46 GMT -5
Post by Dan Stibral on Jan 4, 2011 14:37:46 GMT -5
Interesting subject, Hannah. Even if God has a plan for our lives and our prayers for safety while traveling will ultimately be useless, that doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for it anyway. Since the Bible doesn't say not to pray for that sort of thing, and since it does say to "make your requests known" praying for things that may or may not make a difference is not bad, but good. You're only going to be judged on what you do, for instance, if you pray or not. You will not be judged by whether God answers your prayers the way you wanted him to. Dan Stibral
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Prayer
Jan 4, 2011 20:21:22 GMT -5
Post by Hannah McMichael on Jan 4, 2011 20:21:22 GMT -5
Thank you Rebecca and Dan! That helps a lot. I had been thinking along those lines, especially what you said, Dan...just because the Bible doesn't say we should pray for something doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for it anyways.
God likes to hear our prayers, even as silly as they may sound.
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Prayer
Jan 4, 2011 22:44:21 GMT -5
Post by Michael Morris on Jan 4, 2011 22:44:21 GMT -5
I am in agreement with everyone else who posted--we should pray for things like safe passage and personal concerns. As previously posted, Phil. 4:6-7 helps.
I'd also suggest I Peter 5:7: "[Cast] all your care upon him; for He careth for you."
Here is an excerpt from Kevin Sadler's short article, "Prayer Peace:"
A lady came to the great preacher of the last century, G. Campbell Morgan, and said, "I only take the big things to God. I don't take the little things to God." G. Campbell Morgan looked at her and said, "Lady, anything you take to God is little." We can bring everything to God because anything we bring to God is little to Him, even if it is big to us. He is a Sovereign God. Is anything too hard for Him? No! "In every thing," any matter of life, any circumstance, any physical or spiritual problem, any and all concerns of your heart or mind, is prayer material. God wants us to give Him all worries, stresses, tensions, troubles, frustrations, failures, and to pour our hearts out to Him, "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving."
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Prayer
Jan 5, 2011 21:58:52 GMT -5
Post by Rebecca on Jan 5, 2011 21:58:52 GMT -5
A lady came to the great preacher of the last century, G. Campbell Morgan, and said, "I only take the big things to God. I don't take the little things to God." G. Campbell Morgan looked at her and said, "Lady, anything you take to God is little." We can bring everything to God because anything we bring to God is little to Him, even if it is big to us. He is a Sovereign God. Is anything too hard for Him? No! "In every thing," any matter of life, any circumstance, any physical or spiritual problem, any and all concerns of your heart or mind, is prayer material. God wants us to give Him all worries, stresses, tensions, troubles, frustrations, failures, and to pour our hearts out to Him, "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving." I love this. "Anything you take to God is little." A good reminder. Thank you.
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Prayer
Jan 5, 2011 22:13:36 GMT -5
Post by Hannah McMichael on Jan 5, 2011 22:13:36 GMT -5
A lady came to the great preacher of the last century, G. Campbell Morgan, and said, "I only take the big things to God. I don't take the little things to God." G. Campbell Morgan looked at her and said, "Lady, anything you take to God is little." We can bring everything to God because anything we bring to God is little to Him, even if it is big to us. He is a Sovereign God. Is anything too hard for Him? No! "In every thing," any matter of life, any circumstance, any physical or spiritual problem, any and all concerns of your heart or mind, is prayer material. God wants us to give Him all worries, stresses, tensions, troubles, frustrations, failures, and to pour our hearts out to Him, "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving." I love this. "Anything you take to God is little." A good reminder. Thank you. Whoa. Mike, thank you for sharing that. I love it. It reminds me of another saying "How big is your God? MY God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He is bigger than any presubscribed boxes." (Crystal Paine) And have you all heard Chris Tomlin's latest song "And If Our God is For Us"? I was just going to post the chorus but the words to ther rest of the song are invaluable.... "Water You turned into wine Open the eyes of the blind There’s no one like You None like You Into the darkness You shine Out of the ashes we rise There’s no one like You None like You
CHORUS Our God is greater, our God is stronger God You are higher than any other Our God is Healer, awesome in power Our God, Our God…
Into the darkness you shine Out of the ashes we rise There’s no One like You None like You.
Our God is greater, our God is stronger God You are higher than any other Our God is Healer, awesome in power Our God, Our God… Our God is greater, our God is stronger God You are higher than any other Our God is Healer, awesome in power Our God, Our God…
BRIDGE And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us And if our God is with us, then what can stand against? And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us And if our God is with us, then what can stand against? What can stand against?
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Prayer
Jan 10, 2011 19:59:06 GMT -5
Post by Moriah on Jan 10, 2011 19:59:06 GMT -5
Adding my two cents ... God is omniscient, omnipresent ... He most certainly knows what we need before we pray. However, my personal belief about prayer is that it is a huge reminder about how we seriously cannot do *anything* without God. Psalms 107 talks about how God desires our praise - because of all the wonderful works he has done for us. It is humbling (and refreshing) to bring everything to God ... because nothing is too little. And, I know that it's a "trite" saying ... but very true when those contend that God doesn't answer prayer ... God answers prayer ... in His timing, for our good ... we are zoned in to our little "pixel" in the screen of life ... God sees the entire screen and knows not only what is best for us, but also *when* it is best for us. Not surprisingly, it probably won't be the exact answer we expected! Anyway, gotta' run ... but good thoughts here! Thanks for sharing all
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Prayer
Jan 10, 2011 23:36:12 GMT -5
Post by michaelm on Jan 10, 2011 23:36:12 GMT -5
I'm sure some of you are familiar with Vegitales-- "God is bigger than the boogy man..." hahaha I think of that song sometimes when I'm uncertain.
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Prayer
Jan 11, 2011 23:30:48 GMT -5
Post by Hannah McMichael on Jan 11, 2011 23:30:48 GMT -5
I'm sure some of you are familiar with Vegitales-- "God is bigger than the boogy man..." hahaha I think of that song sometimes when I'm uncertain. I have that song on my MP3 player. Good ol' Veggie Tales.
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