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It matters to Him, so it should matter to you. God hears the sincere and contrite pleas of His children. Jesus Christ stands as our Mediator, and the Holy Spirit is our witness. Yes, God cares, and it really matters.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 .) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 .) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 .) For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 .) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 .) Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 .) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 .) For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 .) But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 .) For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 .) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 .) Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 12 .) And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 .) And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 .) Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 .) See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 .) Rejoice evermore. 17 .) Pray without ceasing. 18 .) In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 .) Quench not the Spirit. 20 .) Despise not prophesyings.
21 .) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 .) Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 .) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 .) Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
25 .) Brethren, pray for us. 26 .) Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. 27 .) I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. 28 .) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 .) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 .) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 .) For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 .) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 .) Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 .) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 .) For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 .) But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 .) For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 .) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 .) Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 12 .) And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 .) And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 .) Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 .) See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 .) Rejoice evermore. 17 .) Pray without ceasing. 18 .) In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 .) Quench not the Spirit. 20 .) Despise not prophesyings.
21 .) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 .) Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 .) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 .) Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
25 .) Brethren, pray for us. 26 .) Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. 27 .) I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. 28 .) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
L
Of course it matters. Prayer is so important to getting close to God.
God hears our prayers. Often times we try to get God to do things for us, but that isn't a good heart for prayer.
Prayer isn't about us getting Him to help us, but about us expressing our concerns to Him. God wants us to be open and honest with Him. Sometimes God says "no" to our requests, but that doesn't mean He didn't hear, or didn't care. A parent hears their child asking for a toy or candy, and can't always say yes.... because they love them.
The more you communicate with God the more you'll find Him communicating with you. Not necessarily vocally, but through His Word (the Bible) and through His believers.
The Bible says that the prayer of the faithful has POWER. Don't lose faith in prayer
God hears our prayers. Often times we try to get God to do things for us, but that isn't a good heart for prayer.
Prayer isn't about us getting Him to help us, but about us expressing our concerns to Him. God wants us to be open and honest with Him. Sometimes God says "no" to our requests, but that doesn't mean He didn't hear, or didn't care. A parent hears their child asking for a toy or candy, and can't always say yes.... because they love them.
The more you communicate with God the more you'll find Him communicating with you. Not necessarily vocally, but through His Word (the Bible) and through His believers.
The Bible says that the prayer of the faithful has POWER. Don't lose faith in prayer
Prayer is how we get to know God better. Imagine having a friend you never talked to. Would that person be much of a friend?
As far as getting things from God, sometimes God says yes, sometimes no, and sometimes maybe.
Pray according to the will of God.
"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. [SUP]15 [/SUP]And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15.
Don't be discouraged. God hears the prayers of the saints!
"I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2
As far as getting things from God, sometimes God says yes, sometimes no, and sometimes maybe.
Pray according to the will of God.
"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. [SUP]15 [/SUP]And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15.
Don't be discouraged. God hears the prayers of the saints!
"I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2
B
The Holy Bible states,
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12).
"The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbs 15:29).
You may also consider that the Lord Jesus came to show us the Father and to teach us how to pray. If prayer were irrelevant to God, then the Lord Jesus wouldn't have prayed Himself, let along teach the rest us how to pray, would He?
Come boldly before the Throne of Grace, making your prayer known, for God is our comfort and joy. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run to it."
Hugs,
BananaPie
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12).
"The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbs 15:29).
You may also consider that the Lord Jesus came to show us the Father and to teach us how to pray. If prayer were irrelevant to God, then the Lord Jesus wouldn't have prayed Himself, let along teach the rest us how to pray, would He?
Come boldly before the Throne of Grace, making your prayer known, for God is our comfort and joy. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run to it."
Hugs,
BananaPie
The following extracts are taken from the Introduction to the new Koren Siddur.
...
Jacob’s Ladder
Prayer is a journey that has been described in many ways. According to the mystics, it is a journey through the four levels of being—Action, Formation, Creation and Emanation. Rabbi Jacob Emden worked out an elaborate scheme in which the prayers represent a movement from the outer courtyards to the Holy of the Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem. According to everyone, the stages of prayer constitute an ascent and descent, reaching their highest level in the middle, in the Shema and Amida.
The metaphor that, to me, captures the spirit of prayer more than any other is Jacob’s dream in which, alone at night, fleeing danger and far from home, he saw a ladder stretching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. He woke and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate to heaven” (Gen. 28: 10-17).
Our Sages said that “this place” was Jerusalem. That is midrashic truth. But there is another meaning, the plain one, no less transfiguring. The verb the Torah uses, vayifga, means “to happen upon, as if by chance.” “This place” was any place. Any place, any time, even the dark of a lonely night, can be a place and time for prayer. If we have the strength to dream and then, awakening, refuse to let go of the dream, then here, now, where I stand, can be the gate to heaven.
Prayer is a ladder and we are the angels. If there is one theme sounded throughout the prayers, it is creation–revelation–redemption, or ascent–summit–descent. In the Verses of Praise, we climb from earth to heaven by meditating on creation. Like a Turner or Monet landscape, the psalms let us see the universe bathed in light, but this light is not the light of beauty but of holiness, the light
Is Prayer Answered?
Is prayer answered? If God is changeless, how can we change Him by what we say? Even discounting this, why do we need to articulate our requests? Surely God, who sees the heart, knows our wishes even before we do, without our having to put them into words. What we wish to happen is either right or wrong in the eyes of God. If it is right, God will bring it about even if we do not pray. If it is wrong, God will not bring it about even if we do. So why pray?
The classic Jewish answer is simple but profound. Without a vessel to contain a blessing, there can be no blessing. If we have no receptacle to catch the rain, the rain may fall, but we will have none to drink. If we have no radio receiver, the sound-waves will flow, but we will be unable to convert them into sound. God’s blessings flow continuously, but unless we make ourselves into a vessel for them, they will flow elsewhere. Prayer is the act of turning ourselves into a vehicle for the Divine.
Speaking from personal experience, and from many encounters with people for whom prayer was a lifeline, I know that our prayers are answered: not always in the way we expected, not always as quickly as we hoped, but prayer is never in vain. Sometimes the answer is, “No.” If granting a request would do us or others harm, God will not grant it. But “No” is also an answer, and when God decides that something I have prayed for should not come to pass, then I pray for the wisdom to understand why. That too is part of spiritual growth: to accept graciously what we cannot or should not change. Nor is prayer a substitute for human effort: to the contrary, prayer is one of the most powerful sources of energy for human effort. God gives us the strength to achieve what we need to achieve, and to do what we were placed on earth to do.
Prayer changes the world because it changes us. At its height, it is a profoundly transformative experience. If we have truly prayed, we come in the course of time to know that the world was made, and we were made, for a purpose; that God, though immeasurably vast, is also intensely close; that “though my father and mother may reject me, God will gather me in”; that God is with us in our efforts, and that we do not labor in vain. We know, too, that we are part of the community of faith, and with us are four thousand years of history and the prayers and hopes of those who came before us. However far we feel from God, He is there behind us, and all we have to do is turn to face Him. Faith is born and lives in prayer, and faith is the antidote to fear: “The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?”
It makes a difference to be brushed by the wings of eternity. Regular thrice-daily prayer works on us in ways not immediately apparent. As the sea smoothes the stone, as the repeated hammer-blows of the sculptor shape the marble, so prayer—cyclical, tracking the rhythms of time itself—gradually wears away the jagged edges of our character, turning it into a work of devotional art. We begin to see the beauty of the created world. We locate ourselves as part of the story of our people. Slowly, we come to think less of the “I,” more of the “We”; less of what we lack than of what we have; less of what we need from the world, more of what the world needs from us. Prayer is less about getting what we want than about learning what to want. Our priorities change; we become less angular; we learn the deep happiness that comes from learning to give praise and thanks. The world we build tomorrow is born in the prayers we say today.
When, at the end of his vision, Jacob opened his eyes, he said with a sense of awe: “Surely God is in this place and I did not know it.” That is what prayer does. It opens our eyes to the wonder of the world. It opens our ears to the still, small voice of God. It opens our hearts to those who need our help. God exists where we pray. As Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk said: “God lives where we let Him in.” And in that dialogue between the human soul and the Soul of the universe a momentous yet gentle strength is born.
Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks is chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
God does hear prayers, but He is selective in those that he does hear. He can turn a deaf ear, an example: (Proverbs 28:9) [SUP]9[/SUP] He that is turning his ear away from hearing the law—even his prayer is something detestable
You have to be sincere in your heart that you want to be one of God's people, and then you need to pray in a manner that is in harmony with God's will. Jesus instructed his followers how to pray with the Lord's prayer; most are familiar with this but if not it is found at Mat 6 beginning v9. Notice how that prayer is in the order of importance and think about the meaning of each section that Jesus taught and how it applies to us. When you pray to God always finish by approaching Him in Jesus name Jn 16:23
You have to be sincere in your heart that you want to be one of God's people, and then you need to pray in a manner that is in harmony with God's will. Jesus instructed his followers how to pray with the Lord's prayer; most are familiar with this but if not it is found at Mat 6 beginning v9. Notice how that prayer is in the order of importance and think about the meaning of each section that Jesus taught and how it applies to us. When you pray to God always finish by approaching Him in Jesus name Jn 16:23