Praying God's will/listening--rather than praying for some unknown good

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thefightinglamb

Guest
#1
#1
So, I attend a pentecostal church still...

And was wondering what a lot of people wonder on here from time to time....

So, a Christian prays a prayer and what he/she prays for does not happen? What is to be concluded?

But this is not EXACTLY what I want to deal with...I want to deal with if the person should or should not pray for something that just APPEARS good to him/her without listening to what God wants or what God actually tells them.

For example, I have heard it prayed for earnestly I do not know how many times for the Lord to heal someone and another case where people were lost at sea and were not found yet...and in the latter case, I did not feel God telling me to pray that they were to be found. I do not mean to be cold but I sensed that that was not what God was going to do in that specific situation. So, I did not pray that they be found but prayed that God would do something through it...or that his will be accomplished.

I know that people should not quit praying for anything the Lord leads them to pray for, as the parable of the persistant widow and the unjust/uncaring ruler shows...but, I would like to just state that if we come to prayer seeking ourselves or others good rather than the Lord and his will than we might as well not pray at all.

I know that might sould harsh. But I would rather know what the Lord's will was even as Eli asked Samuel to tell him exactly what the Lord told him in truth than ten thousand prayers of flowery words that soon wither and come to nothing.

I wonder why when I have been at prayers with other people, there is soooo little listening and waiting for what the Lord wants and sooooo much speaking...I remember reading something by John Wesley?, I believe, and he writes about how each prayer should both begin and end by listening. However long that listening takes.

So, let me clarify for a second. The Lord does hear our prayers but when they are discordant with his will then something is wrong with us.

How I look at it, we can pray one of three things 'our will be done', 'my will be done,' and 'God's will be done.' If we pray the first we are basically at heart an atheist believing our will is what matters and not God's. If we pray the second, we care more about the hopes and perceptions of others than of God's omnipotent will. If we pray the Lord's will be done, then we have true saving faith and we pray according to what he shows us and not just something we perceive as good....

God bless
tony
 
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giantone

Guest
#2
#2
I once broke up with someone in a relationship and every time I herd her name it tore me up inside, I came to realize I could only pray for her at certain times and the times I couldn't pray for her I asked God to get someone else to pray for me. I think certain things we are not to pray for even if they sound like very good things they can be soulish prayers that manipulate things that shouldn't be touched and it isn't of God.

I liked your post.
 
loveschild

loveschild

Banned
#3
May 21, 2009
3,955
25
0
#3
Pray for soul and spirit to be severed.
 
L

Lauren

Guest
#4
#4
Excellent convicting post, Tony. Reminds me of a devotional I read on another forum from Oswald Chambers:

God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His gifts— He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want is only incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us anything incidental. There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God, unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give you.
 
M

machew

Guest
#5
#5
thefightinglamb said:
So, I attend a pentecostal church still...

And was wondering what a lot of people wonder on here from time to time....

So, a Christian prays a prayer and what he/she prays for does not happen? What is to be concluded?

But this is not EXACTLY what I want to deal with...I want to deal with if the person should or should not pray for something that just APPEARS good to him/her without listening to what God wants or what God actually tells them.

For example, I have heard it prayed for earnestly I do not know how many times for the Lord to heal someone and another case where people were lost at sea and were not found yet...and in the latter case, I did not feel God telling me to pray that they were to be found. I do not mean to be cold but I sensed that that was not what God was going to do in that specific situation. So, I did not pray that they be found but prayed that God would do something through it...or that his will be accomplished.

I know that people should not quit praying for anything the Lord leads them to pray for, as the parable of the persistant widow and the unjust/uncaring ruler shows...but, I would like to just state that if we come to prayer seeking ourselves or others good rather than the Lord and his will than we might as well not pray at all.

I know that might sould harsh. But I would rather know what the Lord's will was even as Eli asked Samuel to tell him exactly what the Lord told him in truth than ten thousand prayers of flowery words that soon wither and come to nothing.

I wonder why when I have been at prayers with other people, there is soooo little listening and waiting for what the Lord wants and sooooo much speaking...I remember reading something by John Wesley?, I believe, and he writes about how each prayer should both begin and end by listening. However long that listening takes.

So, let me clarify for a second. The Lord does hear our prayers but when they are discordant with his will then something is wrong with us.

How I look at it, we can pray one of three things 'our will be done', 'my will be done,' and 'God's will be done.' If we pray the first we are basically at heart an atheist believing our will is what matters and not God's. If we pray the second, we care more about the hopes and perceptions of others than of God's omnipotent will. If we pray the Lord's will be done, then we have true saving faith and we pray according to what he shows us and not just something we perceive as good....

God bless
tony
Click to expand...
This brought to mind a verse I was meditating on earlier:

Romans 10:17(NASB)(emphasis mine)
17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Now many people would interpret word of Christ to be the Bible. But that isn't entirely what it says. The greek word used here is rhema, which means sound from a voice. In most references, this word is used to describe a current conversation, something that is being spoken now.

So a better way to phrase this verse is:
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by what God is speaking to you now"

So really this verse is saying that it is necessary to hear what God is saying now in order to obtain faith.

This can happen while reading the Bible, but a lot of the time the Bible in and in itself won't help with this. God often speaks outside of the Bible. He never contradicts the Bible, but not everything He wants to tell you is in the Bible. We have to be able to hear how God is speaking to us now. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will come and speak a right now Word to us through the Bible. But this is not simply because we are reading it, but because He lead us there to speak a verse or passage to us.

I found this really interesting. It has made me constantly hungry for more of the voice of God in my life. I have been noticing constant tugs on my heart as God speaks to me about certain issues in my life. I have even heard Him really really vividly in my mind. His voice has been really encouraging and empowering. I have noticed that God does not always speak to us the way we are used to. He does this to get us out of our comfort zones so that we actively pursue Him.

I thought this was relevant since the topic was about hearing God to know what His will is. Well, we have to hear Him to being with :)

Blessings,

Machew
 
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