Prayer…
October 24th, 2005
My Momma and I were talking yesterday… She mentioned this, not sure where she heard it from or read it… But that isn't the point of this post…
"Prayer doesn't change God, prayer changes those who pray…"
Hearing that, it makes me feel so selfish when I ask for my health to get better when I am feeling down, asking for things I would categorize as "Advancing Ethan's Kingdom".
Does this idea mean that praying opens us up to see God's will/plan/blessings more? If it doesn't change Him, how does it change us?
I think that it is possible for God to change His mind. An example would be Abram praying for Sodom and Gomorrah. Or God healing Miriam after he had aflicted her with skin disease, after Moses quickly prayed for her.
God is both compasssionate and just. Perhaps, when considering between two paths of action, it could be the case that both would be acceptable to God? Sometimes it is perfectly right for God to act justly, but He chooses compassion when we pray for it. If either path is acceptable to God, then He isn't hindered in any way by changing His mind.
Sometimes, though, I think that He would do what is best for us, but we would be insistant on it going another way. In cases like this, I think its possible for Him to change His mind and give us what we want, even though it may be detrimental to us. But even in that case, God isn't hindered by that - He's still true to His nature.
“I think its possible for Him to change His mind and give us what we want, even though it may be detrimental to us.”
This doesn't sound like unconditional love to me.. That we pray for something we “want” and he knowingly gives it to us knowing it is detrimental? I don't like that idea. As a loving parent to a child, would you allow that to happen? Your 5 year old kid wants a paintball gun, which could do harm to others if used unsafely. If you are a loving parent are you really going to give your 5 year old a gun? Or anything that may be detrimental to them? I would hope not…
Yes, but at some point, kids just have to learn to make their own mistakes. In the story of the prodigal son, the father allowed his son to go off to another land and party it up. It wasn’t the best life for the son, but he had to learn that for himself.
Ideally, I think that God wants our lives to be nothing but good and safe and happy, just like any of us wants for our children. But, because of our sinful human nature, we tend to learn more when we fail than when we succeed. And God knows that the best way for us to fail is to want something other than His desire for us. So He lets us have our own way.
Unconditional love means wanting what’s best for another person. Sometimes, the only way we can learn that God's way is best is to try it our own way and fail first. I think that God knows that, and loves us enough to allow us to fail if it means that we turn to Him to pick us back up, and we learn to be more Christ-centered. God doesn't want us to have a “safe” life if it means that we will discontinue to grow.