Ask Aggressively - and Ye Shall Receive?

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A guy at work 39, has been unsteady in his faith…
two years ago - things weren’t going good with him -
he was thinking about calling it quits - with believing / God - etc
Two kids - from two different women - child support -
lives in a small apartment / shares with much younger guy etc -

This year - he told God - " Prove yourself - I need this job I applied to -
if I don’t get this job - I wont believe in you "

Incredibly, he got the job. Eight dollars more an hour too.
Has anyone ever prayed - that aggressively before ?

Sometimes I see bible preachers - demand - a healing - on someone - etc
 
I’ve personally never prayed like that (that I can remember), but I can certainly understand it. Sometimes people just reach a point where they’re so angry about their own uncertainty that all they can do is lash out. Other people just go through so much suffering that they’re angry at God. We see this in Job, and Job is called a righteous man.
 
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I have. But it is a very long story. Don’t want to bore anyone.

The question that came to my mind is how has it changed his faith? Did he learn anything from his demand?

The reason I ask is because when I finally received my response from God I realized that God didn’t really give me a “job” He just pointed me in the right direction and showed me that my issues were a result of following my own desires and I wasn’t following His will for my life. Like a wild horse He needed to break me first before I could run the race.

God Bless
 
Father Solanus Casey famously used to say he thanked ahead of time. He’d ask for say healing for someone and then thank God as though it was already granted. But not aggressively.

I’ve been angry with God before and I don’t recall anything being given. But my memory for minute details of my life is not great. I think I’d remember though if it had happened, through asking aggressively I mean. I’ve had help by asking in pain.
 
So, where is the guy “at” now?
Is he a believer today?
I do know that desperate people say desperate things.
Sometimes people go through a cataclysm and turn away from God for awhile but then wend their way back.
What was his faith life like before this event? Fervent or meh?

I mean, the Jesus told the parable about the woman who nagged the unjust judge every day until she got the settlement she wanted.
So we’re supposed to be consistent.
But like a poster upthread said, also with thankfulness and trust.
 
Seagull said:
This year - he told God - " Prove yourself - I need this job I applied to -
if I don’t get this job - I wont believe in you "
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I would respond that, although he got what he wanted, I wouldn’t take it as a sign that God capitulated to his demands. After all, we’re told in Scriptures not to put God to the test. And, we’re told that asking for prayer in the wrong manner leads to God not fulfilling the requests.

So, I would conclude that it’s more a ‘coincidence’ than evidence that God was cowed (or impressed) by his faithless demands. After all, that wasn’t “aggressive prayer” – it was blackmail!
 
Because sitting ultimatums with God is such a GREAT idea and is encouraged in Scripture? No, in fact we are told not to put the Lord God to the test:

Deut 6:16

Luke 4:12

Matthew 4:7

God is not our servant, we have no authority over the Creator of the Universe.

Your friend got a job because there was an open job for which he was qualified and his interview worked with the hiring manager. People get hired and fired every day, as Scripture says “the rain falls on the just and the unjust”.

I hope that your friend has thanked God, committed his life to gratitude for the opportunity and abilities that allowed him to land this job.
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
So, where is the guy “at” now?
Is he a believer today?
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He got the job and the had a going away party.
He knew Catholic writings and went to mass -
and was fun to converse with - but his life - has been a one big struggle.
He even went to Washington to attend the pro-life march -
He has a strong love for God -
 
The topic reminded me immediately of that film ‘The grey’ I think it’s called, when Liam Neeson shouts up at the sky for God to prove Himself and save him. At the end a while later we don’t see the outcome…

That was just a film but I seem to remember though, that the meek shall inherit the earth?
 
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Lee1 said:
Father Solanus Casey famously used to say he thanked ahead of time. He’d ask for say healing for someone and then thank God as though it was already granted. But not aggressively.
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I think its biblical to thank God in advance. As we receive in spirit before the visible answer appears. Not agressively, of course. But perhaps he asked out of desperation .
 
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