DON'T P.U.S.H........

[tffy2004]

Hello Sisters,
My husband and I were up literally until 4am talking about this very subject last night. Before you continue reading make sure you have your bible so that you can read the scriptures I mention for yourself and see that it is indeed in the Bible.

Now before I go into where you can find the answer to the original question which was posted by Evagray. I would also like to say I didn't want to hijack your thread Evagray so I started another one, because I have a feeling that there will be other questions.

We have to understand that God is all knowing and he knows everyones prayers, including sinners.

If (this word 'if' is so important and means a lot), IF what you are praying for is in Gods will then it will happen. God does say no to our prayers sometimes and other times he says yes. Yes God answers all the prayers but sometimes the answer isn't what we want, it is rather what He has already established in His will for our lives.

Example: You really want to go to Europe but IF its not in God's will for you to go to Europe in the next 6 months, but you decide to go anyway there will be consequences.

We need to acknowledge 1Peter 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and this ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Now IF we are righteous Gods ears are open to our prayers. Which is to say He will go to his Will for each of our lives and he will check, 'is this in the will I have for their lives' and he will give you and answer. That doesn't mean we will say yes it means he will answer. Now I know I said that God knows the prayers of even the sinner but he only hears that prayers the prayers of the righteous. Which takes us into, How do we know we are righteous?

When we look at our current living situations and the things we do, say, and entertain day in and day out, is that life pleasing to God and does it follow Gods word? The answer to this is a 'Yes' or 'No'. Me personally, No. I do things, say things, and entertain things that are of the world and that does not please God.

IF your answer is No, like me Tiffany~tffy2004, you and I dear sister or brother need to change those behaviors and and truly acknowledge in all that we do that Jesus is the son of God and he is our Savior. I have done this before but it was not real. Cause IF it was honest and true I wouldn't have gotten that tattoo I have on my back, I wouldn't have had sex before marriage, I wouldn't have ended that pregnancy when I was 16, I wouldn't watch Flavor of Love, and I Love New York, I wouldn't watch American Idol.....and do so many other things that are of the world that I did and still do. When we are saved we have to change dramatically.
If I was to tell you I was on a plane and the the plane had extra fuel on board, on its way to fuel another plane, but we crashed nose first in the middle of the Sahara desert but here I am sitting in front of you looking just as normal as you do no scars, no limbs missing, no burns, and healthy black strong hair down to my ankles. Logic, science, and common sense would tell you, that did not happen if you are sitting here in front of me looking like you did before this so called crash. Why shouldn't that same logic be applied to when someone says they are saved. How can a human have an encounter where they are saved and accept Jesus and believe in the one and only true God and not be changed in their behaviors?

IF we are righteous and Saved, then in the Bible Matthew chapter 6 gives us some basics that we need to first adhere to. Which are:
Give to the Needy Matthew 6:1-4
How to Pray Matthew 6:5-15
How to Fast Matthew 6:16-18
Treasures in Heaven Matthew 6:19-24
Do Not Worry Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:5-15 tells us the one and only prayer that should ever come out of our mouths and why.

God knows what we need from the moment we are conceived to moment we take our last breath. So there is no need to constantly go to him and babble, beg, and plead. All we need to do is go to our secret place and pray the prayer we were given, Amen.

P.S. Have you ever been told that when you pray you have to say 'In Jesus Name' at the end or somewhere in your prayer, or else the prayer is no good? I have been told that growing up. Well ladies, that is Unbiblical. I will be starting another thread on why that is.

 

[DreamLife]

Thanks for the response. You could have put it into my original thread. I know that only if God has in his will for something to happen will he grant it, unless one decides to go outside the will of God to obtain it on their own. But I remember in Luke 18 a parable that Jesus had said to show the disciples that they should pray and never give up. The widow kept asking the judge to grant her justice against her adversary and the judge eventually did it. In Luke 18:6-7 it said that "And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?"

In Psalms there were several times when David went and cried out to God day and night to save him from his enemies, that was an ongoing theme.

Also I am sure that it is in God's will FOR SURE, because the prayer (in a nutshell without going into too much depth) is to prosper(not financially) and to be in good health. And I know that God wants that for all of his children. I know that I am a child of God, and although I sin, all come short of the glory of God which requires asking for forgiveness, repenting and turning away from sin.

Side note: I know that faith without works is dead, so I am doing everything humanly possible to bring myself in good health and to prosper.

In Matthew 6:7 It is saying do not pray with prayers of vain repetition. I take this as praying the Lord's prayer or repeating the same memorized prayers over and over (Lord I lay me down to sleep...etc) without truly praying the prayer to God from the heart. I do not believe I am praying a prayer of vain repetition, but a prayer of perservence waiting on God to do something in my life.

 

[tffy2004]

If as believers we know that if God has something in his will for us then, why worry about it, just keep believing that God will perform his will in our lives. I agree that in Luke 18:1 when Jesus says pray and never give up. I take that as pray and never stop believing. In chapter 17 of Luke starting verse 20 leading up to the parable someone asks about the coming of the kingdom of God. I take it that the parable of the Persistent Widow is to tell us that after the true Messiah comes back and people are left they still need to keep praying and believing.

I haven't read any of Psalms so I don't know anything about David crying out day and night. I would appreciate if you could find exactly where David is crying out so I can read it.

I totally agree with you that God wants his children to be in good health but he also lets us do through things so that he can get the glory in you telling someone else, 'hey I was going through this and God brought me out' I don't know what health problems you are dealing with right now but eventually in God's time he will heal you whether it be while you are on this earth or when you got to heaven.

This reminds me of something I heard a preacher say. He said that we have to be careful what we ask for. Some people pray for more faith, and wonder why their faith is being tested, some pray for patience and wonder why things aren't happening for them as fast as they usually would, and some pray for knowledge yet when they get the true knowledge they don't want to accept it as the truth that it is.

When I read Matthew 6:7 says (out of one of the three bibles I have in front of me), "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." Verse 8, "Do not be like them for your Father Knows what you need before you ask him.: Verse 9 "This, then, is how you should pray....." as it proceeds to the Lords Prayer. And you are absolutely right, it shouldn't be vainly repeated just for the sake of saying it, it should be from the heart.

 

[DreamLife]

I'm at school and looking at scriptures on biblegateway, but you know Psalms is a long long book, I'm just looking at random chapters Psalms 42:2-3,Psalms 22:2, Psalms 57:2, if you flip to just about any chapter in Psalms it will say something about crying out to God continually and asking God to save David from his enemies. Because it is so dispersed throughout alot of the chapters I assume that this was something continual and persistent.

You are right that while you are praying for something that you shouldn't worry about it because worry shows a lack of faith.

And yes, maybe God is doing this to get the glory. I've heard that many times...and boy boy will I have a testimony. I just hate the fact that it is said to me that I may not get it in this life. In the Bible it says by his stripes we are healed and whatever we ask for in His name we will receive it. Its just frustrating and sometimes I don't understand.

Thanks so much for responding

Anybody else out there to respond....(echo) Hello....Hello....Hello....

 

[tffy2004]

I had no idea you were at school. You finish up at school and get to this later. I too search for things in the bible on the net I found a great site the other day that has really been keeping me in the bible and learning the word. Its Never Thirsty dot org I think its a sister site of Bible Questions .com I was on there one day looking for something and somewhere it said for a more exhaustive search go to their sister site.

I need to be doin my school work too. .I will go to bible gateway to see what I can find and read on David in Psalms. I will probably be back later on today to respond to your last post or maybe even tomorrow.

My husband and I just suffered a miscarriage of our third child last month, but now that God is revealing things to us we are understanding that me being pregnant right now wouldn't have been the best thing with what he is taking us through. Indeed the path is narrow and it ain't easy, but to God be the Glory. Talk to you later.

I too am wondering where the other ladies areerplexed

 

[Southernbella.]

This is a great thread. I'll be back later with my thoughts, but I agree with everything you posted tffy2004.

 

[harrison]

Well sometimes we have to pray until God gives us the right MENTAL ATTITUDE, patience and edurance during a situation.

All things are done right on time in GOd's time table...God's time is infinite!

It is us as humans who become impatient. So sometimes the prayer has to shift to a request for the right thinking on a situation.

 

[MizzBrown]

God knows what we need from the moment we are conceived to moment we take our last breath. So there is no need to constantly go to him and babble, beg, and plead. All we need to do is go to our secret place and pray the prayer we were given, Amen.

P.S. Have you ever been told that when you pray you have to say 'In Jesus Name' at the end or somewhere in your prayer, or else the prayer is no good? I have been told that growing up. Well ladies, that is Unbiblical. I will be starting another thread on why that is.

THANK YOU! My bishop preached the same thing after years of having people tell me, "Well you're not praying hard enough" or "you must not want it bad enough, how did u pray?" Pray more! Let's have a prayer session to get what you want. That's begging and pleading to me and i think it makes a mockery of Him.

Say it one time and it SHALL BE DONE. May not be done when i want but i gotta trust that if it's in HIS will , it will happen. If not, maybe he'll give me an alternative. LOL I have to pray a certain way?? HE HEARD ME THE FIRST TIME and he has bionic ears.

I don't have to open my mouth and say a little prayer either. On the toilet, at my cubicle at work, in the car, while i'm doing my hair. He's everywhere anyway. I was raised that you had to get on your knees with palms closed and have a proper way to talk to him and you really don't. He knows when you're serious or not and i talk to him just like i'd talk to my friend or parents.

 

[DreamLife]

[/color]

THANK YOU! My bishop preached the same thing after years of having people tell me, "Well you're not praying hard enough" or "you must not want it bad enough, how did u pray?" Pray more! Let's have a prayer session to get what you want. That's begging and pleading to me and i think it makes a mockery of Him.

Say it one time and it SHALL BE DONE. May not be done when i want but i gotta trust that if it's in HIS will , it will happen. If not, maybe he'll give me an alternative. LOL I have to pray a certain way?? HE HEARD ME THE FIRST TIME and he has bionic ears.

I don't have to open my mouth and say a little prayer either. On the toilet, at my cubicle at work, in the car, while i'm doing my hair. He's everywhere anyway. I was raised that you had to get on your knees with palms closed and have a proper way to talk to him and you really don't. He knows when you're serious or not and i talk to him just like i'd talk to my friend or parents.[/quote]

Very true, I pray and talk to God all throughout my day, in class, commuting etc. I wonder where that came from, people teaching that you have to get on your knees to pray. I was taught that too.

 

[PaperClip]

Ok... I'm a little foggy on the context of this thread (although I see it is a sort of spinoff from the "PUSH" thread)....

This sentence caught my attention: "Example: IF its not in God's will for you to go to Europe in the next 6 months, you will not go. If its in His Will at all for you to go you will go when it says in His Will you will go."

I don't know if this is necessarily true.... There is God's divine will, His permissive will, and our own will.... And our choices kind of dictate which will we "live" in, if you will, on a particular situation.... And yet, we know God is sovereign....

So I can say all day that I want to go Europe, plan the trip, pack my bags, buy my air and hotel tickets, etc., and be on my way. One of the following can happen:

1) God says don't go and I don't go.
2) God says don't go and I go anyway.
3) Did I even check in with the Lord to see if I should go in the first place and therefore not lose deposit monies.

Now, there are consequences for our actions. I can go and because of God's sovereignty, mercy and grace, I'll get back and either nothing consequential will occur or it will be tolerable. Or, I can go and figure out real quick that going to Europe was a bad move. Or, I can stay home, cancel my air/hotel fares, and because of my OBEDIENCE, I'm blessed, and even if I lose deposit monies, God has a way of restoring/showing that staying home was the better move.

Now, with regard to the point about continually praying for something/situation, I go to this scripture: "14And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." This aligns with other scriptures that have been shared regarding faith in prayer....

The topic concerning "PUSH" speaks to PERSISTENCE and PERSERVERANCE in prayer...even when you don't see a sign or manifestation of that thing.... I am reminded of what happened in the book of Daniel when Daniel prayed (and fasted) for 21 days concerning a request (Daniel 10). According to the passage, God heard Daniel's petition on the FIRST DAY Daniel prayed it.... but the answer was detained due to resistance from the forces of evil...but Daniel's faith and perserverence in prayer gave power to the situation and the angel of the Lord prevailed to deliver the answer....

Also, there are several dimensions of prayer relating to labor and travail (much like childbirth).... there's such activity in spiritual realms...it is an amazing thing...but we are victorious in the Lord....

And the key to praying in God's will is key: in order to know His will for your life, you have to get in His face through prayer, praise and worship...and so your prayers will be in His will.... see how it's a cyclical thing?

Hope this helps....

 

[tffy2004]

Now, there are consequences for our actions. I can go and because of God's sovereignty, mercy and grace, I'll get back and either nothing consequential will occur or it will be tolerable. Or, I can go and figure out real quick that going to Europe was a bad move. Or, I can stay home, cancel my air/hotel fares, and because of my OBEDIENCE, I'm blessed, and even if I lose deposit monies, God has a way of restoring/showing that staying home was the better move.

Thank RelaxerRehab for expanding on my 'example' I was too busy trying to get to the point but you are right, if one decides they are going to to Europe and its not in Gods will there will be consequences.