k111@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Peter Kim) (10/24/85)
How should I pray? If there is something I
really want, should I pray that God grants me
what I want or should I pray that God grants me
what I want if it is His will or should I not
ask God for what I want or ....
Peter Kim ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!k111credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) (10/25/85)
>How should I pray? If there is something I >really want, should I pray that God grants me >what I want or should I pray that God grants me >what I want if it is His will or should I not >ask God for what I want or .... > I think the appropriate prayer is "Tell me what to want."
ken@gitpyr.UUCP (Ken Hall) (10/25/85)
>How should I pray? If there is something I >really want, should I pray that God grants me >what I want or should I pray that God grants me >what I want if it is His will or should I not >ask God for what I want or .... You said "I want" four times. And you can ask for what you want all you want, and God will many times grant those things to you. But if you are asking, "How should I pray?", the answer is obvious--you should ask God what He wants for you in your life. Jesus' disciples asked Him the same question, and I think we should use His answer as a pattern for our prayer. Let's face it, God knows what we want before we even ask Him. And He also knows what He is going to give us beforehand. So why ask, someone may say. Easy. Above all God wants to know us and for us to know Him. He wants to have a personal relationship with us; I mean, He wants us to know Him as a friend and confidant. We all have many friends. And we all know our friends to varying degrees. Some we can even anticipate the things they'll say and do. Well, it should be the same way with God. Just as we enjoy time with our friends, going to movies or ball games or shopping, we should enjoy being with and spending time with God. It's the same principle. Would I always go to a friend and say, "Give me this and give me that!"? Of course not. We would not be friends too much longer. Friendship is a two way street. And our relationship with God is also a two way street. We should treat Him with at least as much respect as we treat our friends. Ken Hall
ptl@fluke.UUCP (Mike Andrews) (10/25/85)
Hi Peter,
There is no magic formula, no special words that can get God to
do what we want Him to. God has taught me that the best prayer
comes from the heart - your deepest desires spoken sincerely.
Remembering that prayer is you opening a channel for God's Grace to flow,
(God's end of the channel is always open, ready to go) you might want to
see in your `spiritual eyes' God opening His arms to you, welcoming
you into a discussion. Then act like this is what's happening - because
it is. Find yourself sitting down with Him, see Him listening to you -
again because He is. Be prepared to hear Him talk back. He speaks
in lots of ways - sometimes you'll have a new and strong desire in your
heart, or a new understanding about some question, concern or doubt you
had; answers you know you didn't make up yourself. Sometimes
He'll speak through people He'll lead your way; sometimes He'll lead you
to something in His Word, the Bible - provided you allow yourself to
be led (give Him your freewill). Whatever ways He chooses to use to speak
to you, be assured that they will be at the right time and in the right ways
especially for you. Neat how He does that. And you'll find it is important
to be honest with God, sharing your true feelings, ups, downs, good, bad,
whatever. He doesn't `play games', or beat around the bush. He really
cares that we choose to come to Him to seek forgiveness, healing, help, Love.
One thing you might try, ask God to help you know what to pray for.
He will. That's what the scripture that says He'll give you the desires
of your heart means - He'll put the desires in your heart for the things
He knows are best for you.
Among other things, He'll teach you trust and patience. Two essential
ingredients to prayer. He'll also teach you humility - like the
times He says no to something.
And finally, but there is so much more He and others will show you as
you ASK (Ask, Seek, Knock), how you live your life, how you treat yourself,
how you treat others, how you treat God Himself, can all be forms of prayers.
There are an infinite number of ways you can pray to God - ask Him, He'll
show you.
God Bless,
Mike Andrews
--
******************************************************************************
God said He would never leave me nor forsake me, and that I am His temple.
A man is what he thinks.
A body led by the soul is only 2/3 of a person : the soul tries to get rid of
the spirit.
A body led by the spirit is a whole person : the spirit works to make the soul
help the body. And a spirit led by God the Holy Spirit is invincible.
*******************************************************************************
ARPA : fluke!ptl@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP : {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!ptlrlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (10/30/85)
>>How should I pray? If there is something I >>really want, should I pray that God grants me >>what I want or should I pray that God grants me >>what I want if it is His will or should I not >>ask God for what I want or .... > I think the appropriate prayer is "Tell me what to want." Sounds like a prayer to the god of Madison Avenue. "Oh great advertising gods, manipulators of our minds, tell us what to want, and yea, we shall buy..." Or to the god of fascism. "Oh great leader, tell me what to want and do, and I will do it and want it, for my mind is yours to tell me what to want and do..." What's wrong with wanting what you already want? -- "There! I've run rings 'round you logically!" "Oh, intercourse the penguin!" Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr
rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob]) (11/03/85)
Follow the lead of James where he tells us
clearly to ask for Wisdom. The Lord never will get
upset with us for asking for that in any situation.
Bob Brown {...ihnp4!akgua!rjb}
P.S. - Rich, that wasn't very nice to mock a sincere
request about what to pray for. This is net.religion.christian
so what can you expect from us addlebrained religionists ??homeier@aero.ARPA (Peter Homeier) (11/05/85)
[... munch, munch, munch ...] In article <1229@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> k111@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Peter Kim) writes: >How should I pray? If there is something I >really want, should I pray that God grants me >what I want or should I pray that God grants me >what I want if it is His will or should I not >ask God for what I want or .... > > Peter Kim ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!k111 Dear Peter, By all means, if you want something, you can just pray for that. However, you are wise to think about checking with God about that prayer, since when you pray for things, you will generally get them. If you are not sure that something is really the best thing (i.e., God's perfect, loving will for you) then do ask Him. The best place to find out His will is in the Bible. If you ask God if you can do something that is shown in the Bible to be wrong, and you know it but are just asking Him because you hope He might let you anyway, sorry. God does not go against His word. But in many questions of life there is no clear-cut, always sure answer. See Ecclesiasted chapter 3 for some. In these cases, you can ask Him and He will answer you. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:5-8) However, this searching of God can take time, and there is another way to pray according to the perfect will of God which bypassed the intellect. This is praying in the Spirit, with a spiritual language given supernaturally by the endowment of the Holy Spirit. If you have had this infilling, then this is one of the things it is used for. If not, write me and I'll explain it. -- Peter Homeier ______ Arpanet: homeier@aerospace / o \_/ UUCP: ..!ihnp4!trwrb!aero!homeier \___)__/ \ The Aerospace Corporation, M1-108 El Segundo, CA 90245
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (11/05/85)
> P.S. - Rich, that wasn't very nice to mock a sincere > request about what to pray for. This is net.religion.christian > so what can you expect from us addlebrained religionists ?? [BOB BROWN] I gave a sincere answer to the question about what to pray for, and to the response that said "pray to god to tell you what to want". -- "to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting." - e. e. cummings Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr