Does God Answer Prayer?

[Holly3278]

Yes, God does answer prayers and believe me, I don’t need any study to tell me that either! I know from personal experience that He has answered my prayers many times. Of course, some people would write off some of these answered prayers as “coincidences” but I don’t. I truly do believe in the power of prayer and I definitely believe that God answers prayer.

 

[tbcrawford]

If God has a plan for us, then what difference does praying actually make? Isn’t He going to follow whatever plan He’s set for us regardless of what we pray for?

One of the simplest reasons to spend time in prayer is because the Lord instructed us to pray

Prayer is loving communication with God. Prayer is the expression of our inner spiritual needs. Through prayer we can find strength of spirit, guidance, wisdom, joy and inner peace

God is not set to limits.

Personally, I have witnessed people being healed: spiritually, emotionally, and physically. However, the ultimate healing (complete healing)occurs in the next life.

Our goal is eternal life, this life is our stepping stone in striving towards it.

The power of prayer and offering up one’s daily sufferings and trials can be just as, if not more, powerful than action, especially during times of illness. It provides a leverage which helps others carry their burdens or removes the burden entirely. Often, it results in miracles for others – including the conversion of the hardest hearts.

Some of the saints suffered from chronic pain or terminal illness which prevented them from leading a physically active life, but offered up their sufferings as a prayer to God. Much of St. Teresa of Avila’s life was plagued with pain, particularly at the age of 23, when she contracted a mysterious illness (later thought to be malaria), fell into a coma for four days, and was paralyzed and bedridden for three years prior to her miraculous healing. She ceased her vocal prayer at this time and later explained, “Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.”

Although not all of us are called to live a life filled with pain and physical suffering, we are all called by God to do penance and prayer for the conversion of souls. The best way we can fulfill this in our lives is to perform each one of our vocational duties to the best of our ability everyday and present this priceless gift to God.

Our goal is to reach eternal life and we pray for the souls in purgatory and for those dying that they may be forgiven their sins and reach eternal life.

“God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be: oneness with God, oneness with Jesus.”
“Perpetual adoration is the most beautiful thing you could ever think of doing. People are hungry for God.”
~ St. Maximillian Kolbe

If we never speak to our spouse or never listen to anything our spouse might have to say to us, our marriage relationship will quickly deteriorate. It is the same way with God. Prayer—communicating with God—helps us grow closer and more intimately connected with God

Jesus spent a lot of time praying. He often went to a solitary place and prayed for hours at a time, especially at difficult times in His ministry.What better example of how we should lead our lives than to follow Jesus example.

God will answer our prayers, but …
God promised to answer our prayers and give us everything we need and more (Mark 11:24, John 15:7). But a wise parent will not give a child everything he or she wants. Similarly, prayer is not a magical trick to get anything we want or a “quick fix” for problems that we should be solving ourselves. God answers prayer requests in His own way in His own time (Psalms 40:1-3), and will not grant requests that are against His holy and wise purposes (1 John 5:14-15), are selfish in nature, are not in our best long-term interest, or those made with impure motives (Psalms 66:18, Proverbs 28:9, Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah 59:2, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:3). Often, we must be persistent in prayer (Luke 11:5-13, Luke 18:1-8). The answer, when it comes, may be in a form radically different than we expected, and we must be alert to that possibility (Deuteronomy 3:23-27, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Sometimes, the answer must come from within ourselves and persistent prayer will help us find that answer. We may need a new attitude or a different way of looking at things, or we may need to make amends with somebody.

God bless

 

[tbcrawford]

Yes, God does answer prayers and believe me, I don’t need any study to tell me that either! I know from personal experience that He has answered my prayers many times. Of course, some people would write off some of these answered prayers as “coincidences” but I don’t. I truly do believe in the power of prayer and I definitely believe that God answers prayer.

AMEN Holly and God bless

 

[MtnDwellar]

If God has a plan for us, then what difference does praying actually make? Isn’t He going to follow whatever plan He’s set for us regardless of what we pray for?

This is a great question. It is one that I have pondered and I am still looking for answers. My question was, Why is prayer effective? Does God love us more because we prayed? Doesn’t he already know what we need before we even start a prayer?

The best answer that I have come up with so far, is that prayer does not change God. The prayer changes the person praying. I think prayer requests change the individual who is praying. Prayer requests are about surrender and us getting out of the way and admitting that we are powerless and all things happen through God.

 

[Faith1960]

One of the simplest reasons to spend time in prayer is because the Lord instructed us to pray

Prayer is loving communication with God. Prayer is the expression of our inner spiritual needs. Through prayer we can find strength of spirit, guidance, wisdom, joy and inner peace

God is not set to limits.

Personally, I have witnessed people being healed: spiritually, emotionally, and physically. However, the ultimate healing (complete healing)occurs in the next life.

Our goal is eternal life, this life is our stepping stone in striving towards it.

The power of prayer and offering up one’s daily sufferings and trials can be just as, if not more, powerful than action, especially during times of illness. It provides a leverage which helps others carry their burdens or removes the burden entirely. Often, it results in miracles for others – including the conversion of the hardest hearts.

Some of the saints suffered from chronic pain or terminal illness which prevented them from leading a physically active life, but offered up their sufferings as a prayer to God. Much of St. Teresa of Avila’s life was plagued with pain, particularly at the age of 23, when she contracted a mysterious illness (later thought to be malaria), fell into a coma for four days, and was paralyzed and bedridden for three years prior to her miraculous healing. She ceased her vocal prayer at this time and later explained, “Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.”

Although not all of us are called to live a life filled with pain and physical suffering, we are all called by God to do penance and prayer for the conversion of souls. The best way we can fulfill this in our lives is to perform each one of our vocational duties to the best of our ability everyday and present this priceless gift to God.

Our goal is to reach eternal life and we pray for the souls in purgatory and for those dying that they may be forgiven their sins and reach eternal life.

“God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be: oneness with God, oneness with Jesus.”
“Perpetual adoration is the most beautiful thing you could ever think of doing. People are hungry for God.”
~ St. Maximillian Kolbe

If we never speak to our spouse or never listen to anything our spouse might have to say to us, our marriage relationship will quickly deteriorate. It is the same way with God. Prayer—communicating with God—helps us grow closer and more intimately connected with God

Jesus spent a lot of time praying. He often went to a solitary place and prayed for hours at a time, especially at difficult times in His ministry.What better example of how we should lead our lives than to follow Jesus example.

God will answer our prayers, but …
God promised to answer our prayers and give us everything we need and more (Mark 11:24, John 15:7). But a wise parent will not give a child everything he or she wants. Similarly, prayer is not a magical trick to get anything we want or a “quick fix” for problems that we should be solving ourselves. God answers prayer requests in His own way in His own time (Psalms 40:1-3), and will not grant requests that are against His holy and wise purposes (1 John 5:14-15), are selfish in nature, are not in our best long-term interest, or those made with impure motives (Psalms 66:18, Proverbs 28:9, Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah 59:2, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:3). Often, we must be persistent in prayer (Luke 11:5-13, Luke 18:1-8). The answer, when it comes, may be in a form radically different than we expected, and we must be alert to that possibility (Deuteronomy 3:23-27, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Sometimes, the answer must come from within ourselves and persistent prayer will help us find that answer. We may need a new attitude or a different way of looking at things, or we may need to make amends with somebody.

God bless

Then shouldn’t there have been SOME difference (even a slight difference) in the subjects of the prayer study, rather than it being equal between the prayed for group and not-prayed for group?

 

[tbcrawford]

Then shouldn’t there have been SOME difference (even a slight difference) in the subjects of the prayer study, rather than it being equal between the prayed for group and not-prayed for group?

Well frankly studies are just that …studies.

What we seem to be really talkng about is faith.

If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to your
mountain, “MOVE!” and it WILL move… and NOTHING will be
impossible for YOU!

• Matthew 17:20

“Whosoever trusteth in the Lord,
happy is he.”

• Proverbs 16:20

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made
the Lord his hope and confidence.

• Jeremiah 17:7

With men it is impossible; but to God all things are possible.

• Matthew 19:26

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He
shall direct your paths.

• Proverbs 3:5,6

Be content with what you have, for God has said, “Never
will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So say with
confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”

• Hebrews 13:5,6

Every believer has been given a measure of faith by God. (Romans 12:3). We just have to use and develop what God has given. We must put it into action.

Develop a life of praise and worship. Praise drives the powers of darkness away and brings the throne of God into your circumstances. Praising God is an act of faith and helps your faith to grow. It is commanded (Hebrews 13:15). Worship is admiring God through the Spirit. If you can perceive who is God, His power, faithfulness and love your trust and faith in Him will grow.

Spend as much time as you can with people of faith. The spirit of faith on them will touch your life also (Proverbs 13:20).

Listen to the Word of God as much as possible. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Constant attention to the Word of God produces faith, especially if we attend to it with an open heart and mind. The book of Proverbs encourages us to constantly keep the Word in our hearts and to keep our attention on it (Proverbs 4:20-22).

What we listen to affects what we believe. If we listen to the TV more than to the Word, we will believe the lies of the world more than we will believe what God says. Constant attention to lies produces deception. Eventually the mind will accept something if that thing is heard often enough and persuasively enough. That is why we should keep hearing the Word of God,through preaching, Christian tapes, confession of the Word, daily fellowship with Godly Christians. This will cause us eventually to believe the truth from our hearts.

Faith in God must be from the heart. It is not merely intellectual. It is spiritual. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
(Romans 10:10)

Faith causes you to know in your heart before you see with your eyes. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2Cor 5.7)

Hope is a condition for faith. Hope is “a positive unwavering expectation of good”. Hope is for the mind (1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 6:19), an anchor for the soul. It keeps us in the place where we can believe, but it is not in itself “faith”. Yet, without hope there are no “things hoped for”, and therefore there cannot be faith.

So I wouldn’t take much notice of positive or negative studies,there have been many shown from both perspectives.

Pray and love God and He will hear you.

God bless

 

[Faith1960]

Well frankly studies are just that …studies.

What we seem to be really talkng about is faith.

If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to your
mountain, “MOVE!” and it WILL move… and NOTHING will be
impossible for YOU!

• Matthew 17:20

“Whosoever trusteth in the Lord,
happy is he.”

• Proverbs 16:20

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made
the Lord his hope and confidence.

• Jeremiah 17:7

With men it is impossible; but to God all things are possible.

• Matthew 19:26

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He
shall direct your paths.

• Proverbs 3:5,6

Be content with what you have, for God has said, “Never
will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So say with
confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”

• Hebrews 13:5,6

Every believer has been given a measure of faith by God. (Romans 12:3). We just have to use and develop what God has given. We must put it into action.

Develop a life of praise and worship. Praise drives the powers of darkness away and brings the throne of God into your circumstances. Praising God is an act of faith and helps your faith to grow. It is commanded (Hebrews 13:15). Worship is admiring God through the Spirit. If you can perceive who is God, His power, faithfulness and love your trust and faith in Him will grow.

Spend as much time as you can with people of faith. The spirit of faith on them will touch your life also (Proverbs 13:20).

Listen to the Word of God as much as possible. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Constant attention to the Word of God produces faith, especially if we attend to it with an open heart and mind. The book of Proverbs encourages us to constantly keep the Word in our hearts and to keep our attention on it (Proverbs 4:20-22).

What we listen to affects what we believe. If we listen to the TV more than to the Word, we will believe the lies of the world more than we will believe what God says. Constant attention to lies produces deception. Eventually the mind will accept something if that thing is heard often enough and persuasively enough. That is why we should keep hearing the Word of God,through preaching, Christian tapes, confession of the Word, daily fellowship with Godly Christians. This will cause us eventually to believe the truth from our hearts.

Faith in God must be from the heart. It is not merely intellectual. It is spiritual. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
(Romans 10:10)

Faith causes you to know in your heart before you see with your eyes. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2Cor 5.7)

Hope is a condition for faith. Hope is “a positive unwavering expectation of good”. Hope is for the mind (1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 6:19), an anchor for the soul. It keeps us in the place where we can believe, but it is not in itself “faith”. Yet, without hope there are no “things hoped for”, and therefore there cannot be faith.

So I wouldn’t take much notice of positive or negative studies,there have been many shown from both perspectives.

Pray and love God and He will hear you.

God bless

So what happens when one has faith but their prayers for healing are denied over and over again? I have a friend whose grandson was recently born with a genetic disorder and not expected to live. Practically everybody I know has been praying for him to get well but half of these babies die within the first week, some have lived to their teens with severe problems. All the prayers in the world won’t make him healthy. I pray for him to not be in pain and for his family to be comforted and strong but I really want the little guy to get well. This brings me back to the question – does God answer prayer? Sure, his family are feeling the love surrounding them from all the prayer chains and individual prayer but if the baby got well, that would be a great answer to prayer.

 

[Z_Ninja]

I believe God answers our prayers, but not in the way we may expect. He answers in his way and we may not understand. He knows what we truly need and I believe that is what we are granted. No more, no less. We just have to trust God.
I think when you pray for a cure, as another poster stated, I think you are looking for a miracle.

 

[tbcrawford]

So what happens when one has faith but their prayers for healing are denied over and over again? I have a friend whose grandson was recently born with a genetic disorder and not expected to live. Practically everybody I know has been praying for him to get well but half of these babies die within the first week, some have lived to their teens with severe problems. All the prayers in the world won’t make him healthy. I pray for him to not be in pain and for his family to be comforted and strong but I really want the little guy to get well. This brings me back to the question – does God answer prayer? Sure, his family are feeling the love surrounding them from all the prayer chains and individual prayer but if the baby got well, that would be a great answer to prayer.

Dear Faith firstly please forgive me for not getting back to you sooner as we moved house yesterday & today so have not had time to get on to CAF.

To address your points about God answering prayer…

I am sorry your friend’s grandson has a serious health problem & I will keep him in my prayers.
When we pray for a request such as this little grandson we can only ask God we cannot expect Him to do as we request. God loves each & every one of us & He knows far more than we do what is best for us.It is hard for us to grasp sometimes the pain of death especially to children yet God loves us so much & maybe He chooses some of us to join Him in heaven without having to suffer here in this temporary life on earth.
I myself have suffered great tragedy & pain .My first two children died as babies and i did not understand for a very long time.I turned from God instead of towards Him.

I have firm belief my children are safe with Our Blessed Lord and did not have to suffer this life were spared from it,so to speak.

Our goal is heaven,eternal life with Our Lord.Our prayer life is not just about asking for things it is about praising and thanking God for the many blessings He does for us in our daily lives.

We are taught to pray in the bible and Jesus Himself showed us how to do this.I sincerely hope & pray God will answer your prayer request for your friend’s grandson,however God knows best.We place our trust in Him that He will hear our pleas and help us in some way it may not be the way we are expecting or hoping but it will be for our ultimate good.

May God bless you Faith and answer your prayer intentions for your friends grandson

 

[PJM]

=Faith1960;7170881]At Mass tonight, our Deacon gave a homily about the importance of prayer. My question is – does God answer prayers? There was a huge study done a few years ago where some cardiac patients were prayed for and some weren’t. The results indicated that there was no difference between those being prayed for and those who weren’t. The patients in the group who knew they were being prayed for actually did worse.
There have been times I’ve thought my prayers were answered but this study makes me wonder.
Thoughts?

The answer is ABSOLUTELY YES… BUT

**How He wants **[God factors in how your request will effect your eternal salvation]

When He Whats [Again God factors in what is BEST for your soul. Keep in mind TIME does NOT exist for God.]

Sometimes the answer is NO!

Knowing what is best or us sometimes only ort of what we seek will be granted

Prayers for our spiritual growth and personal salvation are HIGH on God’s granting list

As are prayers for others but again not usually in our timeline]

The more time we spend with [and or for] God the more God quickly responds to our prayers. “ARE WE WORKING FOR GOD OR MERELY DOING GOD’S WORK?”

So don’t be a stranger. AND DON"T GIVE. All prayers are answered!

 

[velvetsky]

A dear friend of mine contracted a very rare eye disease, in which parasites were eating away at his cornea. A bit at time, the vision in that eye became obscured. He said it was like trying to look through a black cloth.

He went to a university hospital and attracted the attention of all of the most senior professors. They gathered around and made a case study of him. All were in agreement that there was no way to reverse the loss of the cornea that had already occurred, and they also agreed that his cornea would continue degenerating until it had all been eaten away, and thus, he would go blind. It was a matter of time; they guessed 3-4 months until the eye was lost forever. They said there was no surgical intervention or medicine that would make any difference.

I began praying for his eye. I visualized it reforming, so that the missing cornea would grow back. I pictured it in my mind as clearly as I could. I also kept “talking to” his other, healthy eye, and asking the two eyes to work together so that the sick eye could “emulate” the pure health of the good eye. I would say to the bad eye, “look at the neighbor next to you, and emulate his pure health! You once looked like that too, and you will again.”

I asked God to intercede on his behalf, and I also asked St. Lucy who had been martyred and whose eyes had been removed.

My friend’s cornea completely grew back within a two-month period, and not only that, there is no scarring! Even when they examined the eye microscopically, no scarring was visible. Every one of the doctors on the case said that it was not explainable by modern science. They even stated intentions to draw up a scholarly journal article about his particular case, hoping it would be published by JAMA.

He mentioned to the doctors that I had prayed for his eye to heal, and they all had a good laugh! He challenged them by saying, “Well, if that didn’t do it, what did?” They admitted that there was no acceptable scientific explanation for how this was possible.

I love hearing things like this Thanks for sharing this about your friend.

 

[Faith1960]

The answer is ABSOLUTELY YES… BUT

**How He wants **[God factors in how your request will effect your eternal salvation]

When He Whats [Again God factors in what is BEST for your soul. Keep in mind TIME does NOT exist for God.]

Sometimes the answer is NO!

Knowing what is best or us sometimes only ort of what we seek will be granted

Prayers for our spiritual growth and personal salvation are HIGH on God’s granting list

As are prayers for others but again not usually in our timeline]

The more time we spend with [and or for] God the more God quickly responds to our prayers. “ARE WE WORKING FOR GOD OR MERELY DOING GOD’S WORK?”

So don’t be a stranger. AND DON"T GIVE. All prayers are answered!

Then shouldn’t there have been some difference in the results between the prayed for group vs the non prayed for group in the prayer study? It seems to me that the results, virtually equal for both groups, would have been the same even if no prayers were offered.

 

[Faith1960]

Dear Faith firstly please forgive me for not getting back to you sooner as we moved house yesterday & today so have not had time to get on to CAF.

To address your points about God answering prayer…

I am sorry your friend’s grandson has a serious health problem & I will keep him in my prayers.
When we pray for a request such as this little grandson we can only ask God we cannot expect Him to do as we request. God loves each & every one of us & He knows far more than we do what is best for us.It is hard for us to grasp sometimes the pain of death especially to children yet God loves us so much & maybe He chooses some of us to join Him in heaven without having to suffer here in this temporary life on earth.
I myself have suffered great tragedy & pain .My first two children died as babies and i did not understand for a very long time.I turned from God instead of towards Him.

I have firm belief my children are safe with Our Blessed Lord and did not have to suffer this life were spared from it,so to speak.

Our goal is heaven,eternal life with Our Lord.Our prayer life is not just about asking for things it is about praising and thanking God for the many blessings He does for us in our daily lives.

We are taught to pray in the bible and Jesus Himself showed us how to do this.I sincerely hope & pray God will answer your prayer request for your friend’s grandson,however God knows best.We place our trust in Him that He will hear our pleas and help us in some way it may not be the way we are expecting or hoping but it will be for our ultimate good.

May God bless you Faith and answer your prayer intentions for your friends grandson

Thank you.

 

[the_phoenix]

Thank you to Faith1960, asia53, and tbcrawford,

for your kind condolences.

Also, this is a very insightful thread
and the discussion on prayer is much appreciated.