Hello,
There is an issue I'd really like some advice on or guidance:
In life we all pray for our problems and God's will. Whenever I have a problem, I pray for it. But I don't insist. I say to myself - 'well, I prayed and I asked for God's will, and so if God will not grant me what I'm asking, Its OK.. why should I insist for?' because perhaps by insisting I'm forcing God to do something against His Will??
On the other hand, I see so many stories in the Bible where people insist or persist in asking God for help for certain things. And it was through insisting that they received what they wanted.
So, does God want me to insist, or to just ask?
I don't want to be lazy but at the same time, I don't want to be pushy either.
Do u all remember the story of a priest who was well known for being so holy, that was asked to pray for a girl that was dying? He prayed for her, and she died. The family were so furious that they asked the priest to pray again, and he did and she was revived from the dead. After many years, the family went to see the priest and begged him that God take her life as she became very destructive towards herself and others. So , it would have been better for her to have died.
Now, I've been in the EXACT same story. Not about me though, but about someone else - where actually, we all fasted and prayed for someone dying. Had this person died at that time, they'd have died a saint. Howver, unfortunately, this person lived only to commit horrendous sins that weren't corrected at all.
How far should we go in praying for something? I just don't want to insist too much, as it seems to me a lack of trust in God's will if I insist too much.
What do u all think??
Comments
I personally ask and trust that God will do what is best for me and although i ask for what i want and need each tim ei pray, i'm not insisting on anytrhingg.
idk...it would be interesting if someone had an answer to that that';s backed up by sometng...
The Faith of a Syrophoenician Woman (Mark 7)
24Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[g] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil[h] spirit came and fell at his feet. 26The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for
28"Yes, Lord," she replied,
29Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."
30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
(I heard this once in a sermon)This bible verse is a good example of insisting, the woman wasn't jewish, so Jesus told her: it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (children= jews bread=blessing, healing and dogs=non jews) but still she insisted and said:"but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.". She didn't give up and leave, no she insisted, because she had faith He could heal her daughter and remove the demons from her.
(This is my own thought) I think if you insist on something that you know is God's will (eg one of God's promises) then you should have faith that He will give it to you, if not today, then tomorrow. Thus you should keep asking for it. But in things that could be God's will, but could also be against it then you should, I think, tell Him what it is that you want, but then, as copticcross3 already said, but let Your will be done, not mine.
Eg, I want this job, and every time I pray I say, God plz I want this job, but only if you think it's good for me. let your will be done not mine. And if it goes to someone else, we should just be thankful because we have faith that it wasn't God's will and that He has a bettter thing prepaired for His children.
God Bless
Plz pray for me and my weakness
It depends what you insist on, I think..
The Faith of a Syrophoenician Woman (Mark 7)
24Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[g] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil[h] spirit came and fell at his feet. 26The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for
28"Yes, Lord," she replied,
29Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."
30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
(I heard this once in a sermon)This bible verse is a good example of insisting, the woman wasn't jewish, so Jesus told her: it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (children= jews bread=blessing, healing and dogs=non jews) but still she insisted and said:"but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.". She didn't give up and leave, no she insisted, because she had faith He could heal her daughter and remove the demons from her.
(This is my own thought) I think if you insist on something that you know is God's will (eg one of God's promises) then you should have faith that He will give it to you, if not today, then tomorrow. Thus you should keep asking for it. But in things that could be God's will, but could also be against it then you should, I think, tell Him what it is that you want, but then, as copticcross3 already said, but let Your will be done, not mine.
Eg, I want this job, and every time I pray I say, God plz I want this job, but only if you think it's good for me. let your will be done not mine. And if it goes to someone else, we should just be thankful because we have faith that it wasn't God's will and that He has a bettter thing prepaired for His children.
God Bless
Plz pray for me and my weakness
But, i think we've discussed this on tasbeha.org: what IS God's will, and basically, no one really knows His Will. That's why I don't insist. We always pray and say "IF it is Your Will..." whenever we start to ask for something.
But, the story you picked is a PERFECT example of insisting. There are many more also. And these stories bother me, because, God LOVED the fact that these people insisted. In fact, the sole reason why He helped them WAS because they insisted. There was a disabled man who was screaming to Christ saying "HELP ME, HELP ME!!" . His friends told him to be quiet because Christ was too busy, or too far away with a crowd around Him. But the more they told him to be quiet, the more he insisted, and then Christ came to this man and said :"What do u want"?
So, insisting is always seen well.. but what should we insist over given that we don't know God's will??
God Bless
Please pray for me