We had a discussion at my school today about the difference of what God can do and what God will do. It is obvious that these two questions are different but how does God decide which prayers to say yes to and which to say no. Does God already know what he is going to do before we even pray; if so does prayer even matter?
I personally believe it depends on the person, i mean if you are right with God then you will ask for His will and therefore He will be more likely to agree. But i was hoping to get some more and maybe even better ideas on this topic.

For the last time, I'm not saying anyone's wrong. I'm just saying that I have never received an answer to a prayer, never felt God's presence, never had any of that, and my faith a few years ago was just as strong as yours. I'm glad it works for you, but it just doesn't for me. Never has.

Let me explain this to you. All my life, I've been a Lutheran. That's how I was brought up. I believed everything my parents and pastor told me to believe. Why should I have reason to doubt them? I prayed every day and went to church every Sunday. I was never very devout, but my faith was as strong as it could be. God was always there for me, wasn't he? But looking back, I never actually felt God. I just assumed he was there. Everyone told me that, so why would I think otherwise? More recently (about two years ago), I began to have serious doubts in my faith. A comparative religions class at my high school was teaching me a lot about Christianity that I had never heard, and quite frankly, it made everything I had been taught seem...incomplete. And that bothered me. Why would Christianity take symbols from other religions? And why, if Christianity was the one true religion, would those other religions also claim to be true? Didn't all religions have the same amount of validity, since none could offer up any more proof than the next? That effectively put me off of organized religion. But I still believed in God. Even if religion wasn't there for me, God was. Or so I thought. In the midst of all this doubting, I prayed hard, asking God to show me the right path. I wanted him to let me know he was there for me, and if it was right of me to leave Christianity. I got nothing. No nudges, no little voices, nothing. I figured God was going to answer my prayer in some other way, so I didn't worry. However, earlier this year, I tried again. I really wanted God to be there, but I still didn't get an answer. In fact, I felt quite the opposite of what I had expected. Instead of God's presence, I felt...emptiness. I seriously did. I prayed for guidance and in return, felt a sadness so deep that I actually started crying. Just burst out in tears. God wasn't there.

Every time in the past 18 years that I felt something I thought was God, it turned out to just be me. I once prayed for God to take all my worries off my mind. I felt immensely better right after. Why? Because I thought someone else was dealing with them. A few days later, all my worries came back and bit me in the butt. No amount of prayer after that could get them to go away.

So you'll excuse me for being so cynical when it comes to prayer. God let me down on that. Perhaps it works with you, but it doesn't for me. I hope that clears things up.

I've prayed for my family every night for the past almost 7 years. While we still aren't a happy little family like we once were, I now have come to the realization that we will be okay no matter what happens.

My prayers have changed since I was 12 years old (when this all began). I started off asking God to keep my parents together, to make my dad move back in, to let me wake up one morning and have it all been a dream...

Now my prayers have evolved into asking for strength to handle everything that happens, to guide us to where we are supposed to end up...


I don't think I would be handling everything that goes on with my family if my prayers weren't answered.

Frankly clpo and all of the other cynics out there...if people want to believe in something, who are you to tell them they're wrong. Until you present me with evidence that proves that prayer does nothing, I'm going to keep praying...it's silly to argue about it, the words of some random person are not going to sway the beliefs I've had for 19 years...

I asked God many times and he never gave me an answer. Explain that.

God knows but he wants to hear u ask. he created us for personal relationships. Prayer is a way to develope that relationship, you can't make a friend if u never talk to them.

Your really just discussing the difference between theuric (sp?) and thergmatic (sp?) prayer. Far too complicated for me.

Why don't we stop whining and accept life for the way it is?

That's true God won't do something for you that you can do for yourself

What if you answer your own prayers?

I think that's a question worth pondering.

I think God answers our prayers, just not always in the way we expect.

Okay, I was reading this and decided this would be something I know enough about to respond to, so here it goes.

My belief is that no matter how big or how small the prayer, God is willing to answer it. Maybe not in the way that you're expecting Him to, but he does most of the time. The thing about that though, is that He answers them when He knows the time is right. I know of many people at my church that got saved, (if you don't know what that is got to http://apostolicfaith.org/aboutus/salvation.asp), and were praying for a VERY long time for God to speak to the heart of their loved ones or whoever, and it took a REALLY long time. But, eventually their family that they were praying for got saved.

I think part of the reason why God takes His time, or why He doesn't answer it, is because He knows what's best for you. If you are praying for something really big (or really small), and you want it to happen really bad and God doesn't answer your prayers about it, then there is always a reason behind it. You may not always know that reason, sometimes you're not meant to. God is always willing to listen to you. No matter what, He's going to help you.

I know sometimes some people say God doesn't answer prayer, and they'll give an example, but there is always a reason for it, or maybe God had answered their prayer and they just didn't understand, or didn't see it and it wasn't how they wanted it to be. I have a friend who stopped believing in God because He didn't answer her prayers to heal her friend who had cancer. Her friend died, and she was really angry at Him for that. I prayed that God would help her understand why He took her friend's life, but she still doesn't understand and probably never will.

What I'm trying to get at is, sometimes God doesn't answer prayer, and sometimes he does. You may not always understand the reasoning behind it, but there's always a good reason for it. No matter how big or small your problem is, or how much you need something, He'll always help you in some way or another. For that I'm so thankful.

I know this is super long, but ya know...I have a lot to say.

Kirsty

God gives you what you need, which may not be what you want

I think God answers only very important prayers, not idiotic things.