Does Prayer Really Matter?

Do you believe that prayer is to get God to change His mind about something, or is it something else?

NO it makes no difference ....

I think it is undoubtable that prayer has an effect on many things including the destiny of the nations ..

But if mans free will is completely free ,,how does pray effect mans choice toward the Gospel call . Does god influence mans will and heart to heed the things in the Gospel , to make man willing or does mans free will have complete control over his life ,rendering prayer and gods power weak to accomplish an effective salvation on men .

Can we really pray with total faith for some ones salvation ,when our prays through gods power cannot effect the will of men . Or can we have total faith in god leading and power to break through the stubborn fleshly will of sinners and effectively bring about the new birth ..

When we prayer for people and nations do we rest our complete faith in the sovereignty of god and his promises and holy word, so save all those who the father has given to Christ ,and expect it ..

Or do we pray for somthing else regarding sinners ..

How have you prayed in the past ?

How has the how spirit led you to pray ?

What do you expect to see when you pray ?

tmk maybe sometimes it is ,,but i think it is mostly aligning our thoughts and desires with his

There are many examples, in Scripture and throughout church history. Will we stand in the gap for our nation?

Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. (Psalms 106:23)

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 22:29-31)

In Christ,

Ron

I think the simple answer is yes it does matter. It matters to GOD, He instructs us to pray with out ceasing so it should matter to us.

God bless
maryjane

quote: "tmk maybe sometimes it is ,,but i think it is mostly aligning our thoughts and desires with his."

I tend to agree, Gary. But we are indeed commanded to pray.

It seems God expects US to be the change agents, not Him. That seems to the the way He has arranged things and is part of the mystery of the Church.

Intimacy in prayer allows God to reveal His will to us, and emboldens and empowers us to carry our what He wants us to do, whatever that may be.

If prayer was nothing more than getting God to do something (or not do something) it is hard to envision because two equally sincere and Godly Christians might be praying for the opposite things. Does God "change his mind" about something every couple of minutes? Does he, in a manner of speaking, state "since no one prayed about this today, I am going to go ahead and do it." I have a hard time with that concept, although there does seem to be some biblical evidence that God changed him mind about something. The question that is really challenging is whether He knew He would change it in the first place :)

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 KJV
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; [14] If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

1 Kings 18:42-44 KJV
So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, [43] And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. [44] And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot , and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

by bearmaster on 2014/9/14 17:38:44

Does Prayer Really impact the eternal destiny of nations?

Bearnaster

Nations are made up of individuals.

Last Sunday evening (a week before yesterday) just before church was to start, a Guatemalan brother in our small mission (in north Louisiana) talked to me privately. He explained that he was ordered by the authorities in Guatemala that word could not get back to others in his town so he couldn't risk announcing publicly and requesting prayer of all... but that on Saturday (the day before) at 2am, kidnappers had entered his home and taken his 12 year old daughter. I was SO grieved. I couldn't help but weep thinking about how devastating it would be for this brother if his daughter were hurt or killed.

As the week passed, MANY Christians were praying earnestly about the situation. This past Saturday morning the girl was set free!!! All week the chief kidnapper was having dreams about Carolina and was extremely perturbed about her until he finally asked her: "what's your deal?.... what do you have?" When he found out that her parents are God fearing Christians he got scared. He called her mom, put her on a bus and sent her back Saturday morning (the day before yesterday)! Earlier he had demanded $13,000 (Q$ 100,000) ransom money. He told her mom she didn't have to pay anything, just please forgive them.

There are 20 young ladies who are bound in that same house awaiting either death or ransom $$. We are praying for God to convert the kidnappers and turn them into God fearing Christians, and to free the captives.

Just a week or two before Carolina entered the kidnapper’s prison home, another young lady had been killed there in front of all the other captives because her family didn’t come up with the money. What would make a hardened kidnapper dream things about a girl that he knows nothing about, and get so terrorized about it that he would set her free without the family having to pay anything? Mere coincidence?

The same brother was an MS13 gang member as a young person. Now he testifies that ALL of the gang members in his region in both gangs (13s & 18s) are saved and many are preachers. MANY earnest prayers have gone up for the people in that region of Guatemala. Is it mere chance that all those gang members got converted? Think about David Wilkerson’s "Cross & the Switchblade” situation in NY a few decades ago. Did prayer make a difference?

Yes, brother we have many evidences that prayer impacts the eternal destiny of nations … one individual at a time.

I really like this by Oswald Chambers especially the last paragraph:

THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
August 28
. . . one of His disciples said to Him, ’Lord, teach us to pray . . .’ ””Luke 11:1

Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

"Ask, and you will receive . . .” (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Our Lord said, ". . . unless you . . . become as little children . . .” (Matthew 18:3). Ask and God will do. Give Jesus Christ the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems”” the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.

To say that "prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, "Prayer changes me and then I change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.

TMK, that was beautiful. Honestly, I have heard of bro Oswald but know little about him or his ministry.

Some more Scripture to answer the original question.

Jonah 3:5-6, 8-10 KJV
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. [6] For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. [8] But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. [9] Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? [10] And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Hope everyone is having a good day. Love yall.