I made this thread because i need help with something. I know of god's love, i know who he is, and i know of how ppl in the bible could rely on him for anything. Well i pray to him all the time, but I rarely see results. The thing i am praying for the most is to be able to rely on him for anything like david did. Because the way i see it if i could do that like david what fear or doubt could hold us back? What mountain can we not move? I hear music singing of his faithfulness as well as scripture but i have yet to see this faithfulness. I do not know what i am doing wrong, I don't ask for things of this world and i ask for things that will only help me in my faith. The more I read of david the more i asked myself why cannot i do this? So i ask again for help. Am i praying incorrectly? do i not have enough faith? And why do i feel like he hears my prayers but puts them aside? I can only figure that it's something about me, that i must be doing something wrong.
The power of prayer?
- Thread starter Blain
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
W
Hmmm, I don't quite know what to say to encourage you, but I would like to point out that the psalms speak of many times where God felt far away and like He wasn't listening. So it certainly isn't just you.
Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.
Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.
Saint Elias and the Power of Prayer On the Feast of St. Elias the Prophet, we read these words from the 5th chapter of the Universal Epistle of St. James the Apostle: "The fervent prayer of a holy man is powerful indeed" (James 5:16). The reason these words are read on the Feast Day of St. Elias is because the holy man St. James spoke about who prayed fervently, with great zeal and intense feeling, was St. Elias the Prophet. St. James then proceeds to tell just how powerful the prayers of the holy St. Elias were. Elias prayed with deep faith, zeal and intense feeling to God for a drought in order to punish King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and the people of Israel who had turned their backs on the Lord God in order to worship the obscene pagan god, Baal. Elias' prayer was so fervent that the Lord immediately answered Elias by sending a drought and famine, which would last for 3 years and 6 months. The prayers of St. Elias, which were offered with zeal, faith and intensity, were answered by God with powerful results on several other occasions as well. God told Elias to flee from the wrath of King Ahab, who was angry with Elias because he prayed for the drought and famine as punishment for Ahab's worship of Baal. Elias was instructed to go to a place called Serepta and stay there with a poor widow and her young son. Because the poor widow was kind to St. Elias, sharing with him the last bit of corn meal and oil she had left to live on during the famine, God answered the intense prayer of Elias to help the woman and her son. God multiplied the contents of her containers of corn meal and oil so that they never went empty. Neither the widow, her son, nor St. Elias went hungry. On another occasion, the widow's young son became ill and died. The prayers of the holy and righteous prophet Elias, asking God to restore the boy to life, were again answered with powerful results. The boy was restored to life and Elias gave him back to his mother in good health. On yet another occasion, St. Elias challenged the priests of the pagan god Baal to a contest to see if our God or Baal was the one true God. Again the prayers of the holy Elias would be answered with powerful results. The holy prophet Elias prayed with all his might for God to send fire from heaven to burn the sacrifice of a bull he had prepared to offer to the Lord, to prove to the sinful people of Israel that the Lord, not Baal, was the true God. Fire immediately came down from heaven, burning not only the bull, but also the wood, the stone altar and all the water Elias had ordered to be poured over the sacrifice. The priests of Baal failed in their attempt to call down fire from their false god. Still another powerful thing occurred as a result of the zealous prayers of Elias. When the Israelites saw the fire come down from heaven due to the prayer of Elias, they stopped worshiping Baal and they began to worship the Lord God again by proclaiming: "The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God" (1 Kings 18:39). The prayers of Elias brought the children of Israel back to the Lord their God and away from eternal punishment. To reward the Israelites for abandoning their worship of Baal, the holy prophet Elias again prayed fervently to God to end the 3 and one half year long drought and famine. Again the results of Elias' prayer were powerful in their effects. The Lord heard Elias' prayer and sent a great rain to end the drought and famine (1 Kings 18:412-45). The prayers of St. Elias were indeed powerful in their effects for several reasons. First, Elias was a holy man who remained faithful to God in defiance of King Ahab who ordered the Israelites to worship Baal. His faith was so great that the prophet never doubted God's ability or willingness to answer his prayers. Second, Elias' prayers were offered with fervor. Elias prayed with great zeal and with intense feelings of love for God rather than rattling off words out of habit or from memory without any feelings of love for God. Third, Elias did not pray for earthly riches or to feather his own nest. He prayed for spiritual things; that God would reveal His glory to Israel with the result being that the Israelites would turn away from idol worship and wickedness; turning back to the Lord their God and living according to His righteous commandments. Elias' prayers were also offered to God for the spiritual and material benefit of others and not for himself; namely that God would be merciful to the poor widow, her son and to the sinful people of Israel. Our prayers will also be heard by God and answered with powerful results if we become like Elias, holy in the sight of God. Our prayers will be heard and answered by God with powerful effects if we offer them to God like Elias did: with unquestioning faith in God's power and His willingness to answer our prayers, praying with great zeal and with intense feelings of love for God. Our prayers will be answered by God with powerful results if we, like St. Elias, pray for those spiritual and material things that we and others need to sustain us on our journey to the kingdom of God. If we pray as holy people pray, fervently, that God will fulfill all those petitions of us His servants that are truly for our benefit and the benefit of others, then God will answer our prayers with powerful results. If we pray like Elias for what we really need, that God will give us in this world the knowledge of His Divine truths and give us life eternal in the world to come (Prayer of the 3rd antiphon), then God will answer our prayers with powerful results. How do we know this will happen? Because the Lord assures us in the Holy Scriptures that "the fervent prayer(s) (of holy people are) powerful indeed" (James 5:16).
I see:] thank you all for your help! I have read when jesus spoke of if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can say to this mountain move and it will. I had a strange thing happen to me the other day that i think everyone should know of, you see i was having so many doubts and fears and i knew it was the devil whispering to me and i suddenly had enough of it. I spoke directly to the devil with zeal telling him he is wrong about me( i was having thoughts of how weak i am even in my faith) and i said to him how weak he is, because only a weak person goes after another weak person. I told him if he thinks he is so strong go after a strong person then come and attack me if he succeeds. I told him how one day i won't be weak any more because wether he likes it or not i am going to be just like my lord and savior. When i spoke all of this to him all my fears and worries, all my doubts and saddness disapeared. And i was very grateful to god, now today the devil hit me hard but i knew he would come back soon enough. But my love for god remains unchanged and i will continue to pray for a wonderful and powerful loving relationship with god that i have been seeking for so long. i have been asking to see ilke jesus, love others like jesus and to be an exact mirror image of him inside and out for many months. But i understand how we have to grow so i do not fret about the time it takes, but right now i really want to go deeper into my love and faith for him. I have told him many times how my soul thirsts for him and my hunger for him gets so intense some times its torture but all in all i am very grateful to have such a thirst and hunger
Prayer is so very powerful. It has been tested by the secular world and they say it is effective. It is ruled by spiritual rules, and often our human minds don't grasp those rules.
One man made an interesting study of prayer by testing it with 45 volunteers needing help that he divided into three groups of 15. One group prayed 30 minutes a day and reported to him once a week. One group went to a psyciatrist. One group studied scripture to follow as they found answers. The results were that the ones going to psyciatrist had help, the one simply praying by concentrating on their problem got worse, but the third group had miraculous results. That group accepted telling God once and trusting that God heard, so they accepted forgiveness, they left the problem with Him. What they did was work at clearing any sin in their lives that could be a barrier to communication with Him.
The person who had to live with a problem individual learned to forgive and found ways to give love with how they interacted. The person with an ill spouse concentrated on living triumphantly wih Christ. The person with arthritus found grudges and resentments to clear out. The book is interesting, it is Prayer Can Change Your Life by Powers.
God loves you beyond your understanding, God is with you for your good and protection, right up to taking you to heaven with Him at your death from this life. You have only to let go of what isn't of God.
One man made an interesting study of prayer by testing it with 45 volunteers needing help that he divided into three groups of 15. One group prayed 30 minutes a day and reported to him once a week. One group went to a psyciatrist. One group studied scripture to follow as they found answers. The results were that the ones going to psyciatrist had help, the one simply praying by concentrating on their problem got worse, but the third group had miraculous results. That group accepted telling God once and trusting that God heard, so they accepted forgiveness, they left the problem with Him. What they did was work at clearing any sin in their lives that could be a barrier to communication with Him.
The person who had to live with a problem individual learned to forgive and found ways to give love with how they interacted. The person with an ill spouse concentrated on living triumphantly wih Christ. The person with arthritus found grudges and resentments to clear out. The book is interesting, it is Prayer Can Change Your Life by Powers.
God loves you beyond your understanding, God is with you for your good and protection, right up to taking you to heaven with Him at your death from this life. You have only to let go of what isn't of God.
Scripture says to set all requests in Jesus's name before God with praise and thanksgiving!
One learns that when one goes before God in prayer, that one does so in humility, trusting that if the request is not given, that God has still answered, He knows all you need and answers in this.
Otherwise, if we keep looking for what we ask, we may never see the gift given in answer to ones prayer.
For all is Gods glory and perfect care!
So the question one might ask theirself, does one look to what they ask, or with praise and thanksgivng, give all glory to God, knowing He grants all needed, seeing the gift given.
God bless
pickles
One learns that when one goes before God in prayer, that one does so in humility, trusting that if the request is not given, that God has still answered, He knows all you need and answers in this.
Otherwise, if we keep looking for what we ask, we may never see the gift given in answer to ones prayer.
For all is Gods glory and perfect care!
So the question one might ask theirself, does one look to what they ask, or with praise and thanksgivng, give all glory to God, knowing He grants all needed, seeing the gift given.
God bless
pickles
Guess at times we all go through that,i did anyhow.
i dont know if there is right way to answer this but the fact ur praying is a good start.word of God says those who come should beleive that he exisit and that he rewards those who deligently seek him(not casually).
depends what are u looking for,i used to be very upset because i was after feelings.
i know many friends who get really upset because they want to see visions and angels like tv preachers say,they do pray and dont get it.
knowing christ in prayer is better than anything,its is from that room u began to grow in him,in faith and in reading of his words.
liek i say it again there is no formula,he promises if u seek him he shall be found.