"Ask anything in my name..."

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry1700
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Larry1700

Guest
My son lost his girlfriend months ago, has been depressed every since, and has lost his faith because he prayed day after day that God would bring her back. He hung on Jesus’ words, “Ask anything in my name…” and she never returned.

My wife and I prayed to a 54 day novena to St. Jude (27 days of asking for St. Jude’s intercession that my son’s faith would be restored, followed by 27 days of thanking him in advance. It didn’t work.

I don’t know how to answer my son’s lack of faith, because he believed Jesus’ words, and didn’t see results. My faith is shaken now, because I wanted to be one of those strong Catholics who say that St. Jude helped them. I can’t. He didn’t.

I know about the verse saying “God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts about our thoughts.” I know about St. Monica, who had to pray for St. Augustine for 30 years. I’ve told my son all that, but it’s falling on deaf ears.

Today I started a week long fast, hanging on other words of Jesus, saying "This kind [of demon] can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.

There’s the background. My questions are:

Who was Jesus talking to, and/or what did He mean, when he said “Ask anything in my name, and it will be given you.”?

How can I address my son’s lack of faith?
 
Larry1700 said:
My son lost his girlfriend months ago, has been depressed every since, and has lost his faith because he prayed day after day that God would bring her back. He hung on Jesus’ words, “Ask anything in my name…” and she never returned.

My wife and I prayed to a 54 day novena to St. Jude (27 days of asking for St. Jude’s intercession that my son’s faith would be restored, followed by 27 days of thanking him in advance. It didn’t work.

I don’t know how to answer my son’s lack of faith, because he believed Jesus’ words, and didn’t see results. My faith is shaken now, because I wanted to be one of those strong Catholics who say that St. Jude helped them. I can’t. He didn’t.

I know about the verse saying “God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts about our thoughts.” I know about St. Monica, who had to pray for St. Augustine for 30 years. I’ve told my son all that, but it’s falling on deaf ears.

Today I started a week long fast, hanging on other words of Jesus, saying "This kind [of demon] can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.

There’s the background. My questions are:

Who was Jesus talking to, and/or what did He mean, when he said “Ask anything in my name, and it will be given you.”?

How can I address my son’s lack of faith?
Click to expand...
My dear friend

I think Jesus is saying that if we ask for the really important things in His name He will grant it - like the Holy Spirit, grace, virtues, faith, purity and all the spiritual things we need. He can give us other things but He wants us to ask for what we really need. Like with the multiplication of the loaves and fish. He was teaching a lesson about the holy eucharist but the people wanted to make Him king because they got full bellies. He refused this because He came not to give us purely material and worldly blessings but spiritual blessngs are what He wants to give us. When we pray that Gods will be done a a claus at the end of our petition the same way Jesus did in His agony in the garden , our prayer is always answered in that Gods will, will be done even if w don’t know what it is. A big part of growing up in the spiritual life is accepting, no embracing Gods will no matter what it is. God is Love and God desires what is best for us. God is infinitely perfect, does all infinitely perfecly and loves us infinitely. He is iinfinitely superior to us too. We have to trust God and just abandon ourselves and our wills to Him.Some prayers have taken a lifetime to be answered. We must persevere and keep knocking. But if we are to spiritually mature we must embrace Gods will even when we dont 'undersand it or agree with it, and be patient as we wait for the answer. Hope this helps.

God bless you:thumbsup:🙂

John
 
Hey now, don’t you go bashing St. Jude! 😉

Seriously though, I’m sure he’s praying for your son, but prayers to St. Jude (and like prayers to God Himself) aren’t magic; but I’m sure you know that. The time is apparently not right yet, but it will happen. Don’t worry, and don’t give up!
 
God answers prayers BUT he doesn’t interfere with free will.

God doesn’t make people do anything - so He didn’t make your son’s girlfriend go back to your son. That isn’t a lack of answer, it is God allowing us free will.

By all means, continue praying for your son to return to the faith but understand that it must be his (your son’s) decision. When I pray for my brothers who lack faith, I pray that God speak to them in whatever way they will hear - whether that be me, a friend, our dad, a stranger, a priest, nature or whatever. I will make suggestions but I trust God knows their hearts and what will touch them better than I.

Hope this helps. (I just said a prayer for you and your son).

Christ’s peace.
 
I am sorry your son is having a tough time. It is important not to think of Jesus as a magical genie whose belly we can rub to get wishes. I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that God is my magical wish-granting vending machine. Then I get frustrated at him for having the audacity to waste all my time praying only to let me down! I am not saying this is what you are doing, I am just speaking in broad terms, and what I am guilty of - I actually think it is wonderful that you and your wife are drawing together in prayer for your son. God answers prayers in his time, not ours. Remeber, St. Jude can pray for you, but it only God’s will that will be done. It can be so frustrating - especially when you are young and in love and hormones and emotions are running high. Two things might be possible here (actually, all things are possible with God, but you know what I mean), this girl may return to him after a period when each has learned some unseen lesson that God intends for them to learn. OR this is not the girl God has selected for him, and when the girl who will be his wife walks into his life he will know why God allowed him to endure the heartache of losing this girlfriend.
 
When God doesn’t answer a prayer in the way we want, it’s not because He didn’t hear us, or our prayers didn’t “work” (like some kind of magic formula), it’s because God knows ultimately what is good for us. Sometimes we have to wait a while for God to work things out in His own way and time. Commend your son to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
 
All prayers are answered. Some of the answers are, “No.” God will always give us what we need. He will not always give us what we want, most especially where He sees it wouldn’t be good for us. This girl might just not be for your son. Tell him to let go and trust the Lord.
 
The problem is that your son is asking God to deny free will to his ex-girlfriend. We all know that God gave us free will; He will not deny us the freedom to make whatever decision we wish to make, regardless of the consequences (heck, He won’t even change our minds to make us love Him!). The prayer “Make her change her mind, come back to me, and love me” is a request that God change her, making her into a different person; and it requires Him to take away her free will.

In other words, your son’s prayer to God is inherently impossible. Even if God granted it (which He wouldn’t, because He will not take away our free will), the person who came back to your son would not be his ex-girlfriend; it would be the ex-girlfriend, minus her free will.

She chose not to be with your son. That’s very hard for him to bear (believe me, I know). But it can’t be fixed by asking God to override her decision and force her to return.

I’m sorry your son is hurting like this. It’s happened to me more times than I can count, and I too have prayed that prayer, essentially asking God to change a girl’s mind so she would come back to me. But that isn’t how God works, and it won’t result in our happiness.

It will, however, help him to grow. Perhaps this is how your son will become the man who meets and marries some other woman who will grow toward God with him. I know that, in my case, at least, I am who I am in part because of the heartache I have suffered.

Perhaps she isn’t the one for your son. Perhaps she is, and they each need space for a while before they can reunite (for some reason not apparent right now). Perhaps your son simply needs to experience sorrow for a while to grow as a Christian. Perhaps she’s just being an idiot and will come to her senses later. We simply don’t know.

But, if asked to think about it, your son will probably say that, no, he doesn’t want God to change her mind for her; he wants her to change her mind on her own.

Which means that even your son doesn’t want your son’s prayer to be granted. So it won’t be.
 
Hi,

I agree with all who said:
  • God answers all prayers, sometimes the answer is “no”.
  • God never interfears with free will.
Remember God never makes mistakes. Sometimes we loose one thing to gain a greater thing.

Continue to pray but, I recommend to pray for “Gods will be Done.” Pray to Our Lady conserning your request via the rosary. Also pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Remember God put us all on this earth at this particular time, in this particular place to bear the crosses we are given. He knew us before all time. He created all of our souls before he chose which human parents to give us too. He knows we are up to the tasks we are given. We must have faith, trust and love to do as we are asked.

We are knights of Christ following our Lady into battle behind the Standard of the Cross as members of the Church Militant. All our life’s challenges are in preparation for something greater: Heaven! 🙂

As Fr. Corapi often says: “No Pain, No Gain. No Cross, no Crown.”

I imagine he would also say “Life is suffering… Good!” 😉

– Cadian :knight1:

PS. I often have to remind myself of this too! 🙂
 
I am sorry your son is going through a hard time. I will pray for him
 
Thanks to everyone for your comments and offers of prayer.
Larry1700
 
Ask your son to pray for his former girl friend. Advise that he pray that she receives all of the gifts and blessings that he wants for himself. Then, see what happens.
 
MtnDwellar said:
Ask your son to pray for his former girl friend. Advise that he pray that she receives all of the gifts and blessings that he wants for himself. Then, see what happens.
Click to expand...
Good idea. I remember that it gave me peace in my heart when I was having such a difficult time with my boss.
 
I’ve been reading Mother Angelica’s (from EWTN - Eternal Word Television Network) Little book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality. I found what she has this to say about God’s answers to our prayers very inspiriational and encouraging.
Faith is seeing God’s providence when He says yes and seeing His love when He says no. You see, it takes a lot of love on the part of God to say no to you. Why? Because He risks your love; He risks your faith in Him. He risks your hope in Him. If you are asking for something and it isn’t for your good, His love will say no. [emphasis mine]
Click to expand...
As a dad I’m sure you’ve had to say no plenty of times to your son because a yes would have been detrimental to his health or well-being. Your son is still young so maybe he doesn’t see long-term yet that what he was asking for maybe wasn’t in his best interest, especially since he wanted it so badly. Remind him that your no doesn’t mean you don’t love him, and neither does God’s.
 
Larry1700 said:
My son lost his girlfriend months ago, has been depressed every since, and has lost his faith because he prayed day after day that God would bring her back. He hung on Jesus’ words, “Ask anything in my name…” and she never returned.

My wife and I prayed to a 54 day novena to St. Jude (27 days of asking for St. Jude’s intercession that my son’s faith would be restored, followed by 27 days of thanking him in advance. It didn’t work.

I don’t know how to answer my son’s lack of faith, because he believed Jesus’ words, and didn’t see results. My faith is shaken now, because I wanted to be one of those strong Catholics who say that St. Jude helped them. I can’t. He didn’t.

I know about the verse saying “God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts about our thoughts.” I know about St. Monica, who had to pray for St. Augustine for 30 years. I’ve told my son all that, but it’s falling on deaf ears.

Today I started a week long fast, hanging on other words of Jesus, saying "This kind [of demon] can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.

There’s the background. My questions are:

Who was Jesus talking to, and/or what did He mean, when he said “Ask anything in my name, and it will be given you.”?

How can I address my son’s lack of faith?
Click to expand...

I think it shows that Jesus is either unreliable, or did not say those words. I’m very sorry you have had this disappointment 😦​

Trust to yourself - whom else can you trust ? God is simply not reliable - unfortunately. To trust in God is to be sure of disappointment, because it is to build on sand. No matter how they try, Christians cannot explain away the unreliability of their “Saviour” :rolleyes: - the facts are against them. That’s my advice, anyway.
 
Does anyone have this book, entitled “Hard Sayings of the Bible”? I see from the index (via the “Look Inside” feature at Amazon.com) that it has quite a few pages under “Prayer.” If you’re familiar with the book, does it address my original question?

http://www.amazon.com/reader/083081423X?encoding=UTF8&ref=sib%5Fdp%5Fpt#reader_083081423X
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

I think it shows that Jesus is either unreliable, or did not say those words. I’m very sorry you have had this disappointment 😦​

Trust to yourself - whom else can you trust ? God is simply not reliable - unfortunately. To trust in God is to be sure of disappointment, because it is to build on sand. No matter how they try, Christians cannot explain away the unreliability of their “Saviour” :rolleyes: - the facts are against them. That’s my advice, anyway.
Click to expand...
Well, while I admit that I feel that way sometimes, I also know there are many people who have personally experienced answers to prayer that cannot be explained otherwise. In addition, I know that children feel the same way about their parents. Sometimes parents say yes, and sometimes parents say no. The kids can’t figure out why, until they become parents themselves. They don’t have the wisdom they need to understand their parents’ decisions. We can’t possibly have the same wisdom God has; therefore we can’t comprehend why some prayers are seemingly unanswered.
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

I think it shows that Jesus is either unreliable, or did not say those words. I’m very sorry you have had this disappointment 😦​

Trust to yourself - whom else can you trust ? God is simply not reliable - unfortunately. To trust in God is to be sure of disappointment, because it is to build on sand. No matter how they try, Christians cannot explain away the unreliability of their “Saviour” :rolleyes: - the facts are against them. That’s my advice, anyway.
Click to expand...
We are talking about a God who created the universe. His knowledge and wisdom, by logical necessity, must then be greater than ours. Granted that His mind is greater than ours, it would be stupid for God to always conform His will to our will, or what makes sense to us. It would be as if parents decided to always do what makes the most sense to their three year old children, rather than what they know really makes the most sense. It is ludicrous to me that you expect God to do what we want all the time.

Also, in a world with multiple creatures with opposing free wills, it is impossible that God give everyone what they want all the time. People in any given war, on both sides, will be praying to God, “give us victory, destroy all our enemies and make it so we have no – or very few – casualties.” People’s wills are contradictory and sometimes their prayers are contradictory. What makes sense is for God to do His will, as He is the omniscient and all-loving God, whereas we are trite, petty, ignorant and stupid (especially compared to Him and His followers in Heaven- though even by our own feeble standards, this is often the case). Just as a loving parent does what is best for His children rather than doing whatever His children want, and just as a loving parent acts on his superior wisdom for the benefit of the family rather than only doing what he can explain to his three year old children in a way that makes sense to them and that they agree with, God will do what is best, not what we want. He’s not Santa Claus. He’s God.

As far as this quote from Jesus is concerned, there is a key assumption made in the statement. The assumption in the statement, “If you ask me anything in my Name, I will do it,” is that what is asked is in conformity to God’s will.

This also is analogous to parenting. Parents, rather than abandoning their knowledge so they can live simply in the knowledge of their little children, work to conform their children’s knowledge to the parents’ knowledge. We teach our children the alphabet and mathematics, teach them how to write and give them our beliefs about right and wrong. We (because we are finite) learn from our children too, of course, but what we most learn from parenting are disciplines like patience, humility, etc. God is the same. He conforms our knowledge to His knowledge, our wills to His will, because His will is perfect for each of us and He knows that the greater our conformity with Him, the more fulfilled, wise, joyous, loving and loved we will be! Everything is better for the soul that is more conformed to the will of God. As St. Paul writes, “I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.”

Jesus’ words are indeed perfectly true, but they assume that what we ask be in conformity with God’s will. We can even ask for good things and not see them given, because God has something better in mind, or sees that refusing to give these things to us can do more good for our souls than would giving us what we ask for. Sometimes He wants us to just trust Him.

When children insist on their parents giving them what they want and then whine and scream when they don’t receive it, they show both their immaturity and their ignorance. In the same way, when we insist on God giving us what we want and lose our faith or reject Him when we don’t receive it, we show our immaturity and ignorance.

God is not stupid. He won’t bend to our every wish. Rather, He will strive to bend us to His wishes, to make us submissive to His will, because through this we receive what is best for us by far.
 
Larry1700 said:
Well, while I admit that I feel that way sometimes, I also know there are many people who have personally experienced answers to prayer that cannot be explained otherwise. In addition, I know that children feel the same way about their parents. Sometimes parents say yes, and sometimes parents say no. The kids can’t figure out why, until they become parents themselves. They don’t have the wisdom they need to understand their parents’ decisions. We can’t possibly have the same wisdom God has; therefore we can’t comprehend why some prayers are seemingly unanswered.
Click to expand...
👍 Bull’s Eye. Exactly what I tried to say in my infinitely longer-winded post :D.
 
JMJ / MMM 091028 Wednesday
Hello Brothers and Sisters in Christ –

There is a very clear Scripture quotations in the epistles that goes directly to the heart of the original question. 1 John 5:14 > “And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

We may at first see this as a take back. “Sure, go ahead and ask … but if it isn’t what I (God) want, it doesn’t count.”

What DOES God want? God wants ONLY our highest good, nothing less. We do not have God’s Wisdom. We do not know what is our highest good. We know what we WANT, yes … but is that always the “best” … is it always even GOOD?

It is best to go along with God and with what God wants.
John (JohnJFarren)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top