God's will . . . free will?

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mariam1976

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i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
 
I’ll take a shot at this. My understanding is that even though we have free will, this does not mean that things do not happen according to God’s will. Evil and sin are a result of the misuse of our free will, God permits this and will draw from this evil a greater good. Also, God knows how our free wills will be used, but he did not decide not to create some one just because they would use their will to rebel against him. Those who go to Hell want to go their.

I am not so sure about petition type prayer which I think is what your talking about. I need to learn more about it. But obviously we should not pray for anything that is contrary to God’s will and we should not pray to God as if he were some sort of Genie that grant’s wishes. I think the most common petition type prayers are to ease pain and suffering. I would guess that these types of prayers are part of God’s will as they are obviously encouraged and have real power. I need to learn more about prayer in general however…

The main thing about trusting in God’s will however is to trust in providence. Everything will be sorted out and perfected. When bad things happen some people will blame God but as Catholics we must trust in providence and know that from every evil God will draw a greater good.
 
i am talking about the petition type of prayer and i am praying for my marriage to be restored… i think that is what is God’s will… however, i dont see it being restored which tells me that my husband’s will is being done… how can this be that it is more powerful than god’s will???
 
Ok, let me try to answer this question. I think we all have free will to do whatever we want whether it’s good for us or not but when you pray to God and ask for His Will to be done, then you’re open to Him and whatever He wills.
 
but if the situation has more than 1 person and only one person is open to God’s will, then it will be the other person’s will which will be done as God does not interfere with free will right?
 
I think we all have free will unless and untill God intervenes. I think you can pray your way to a happy ending for your marriage if it is God’s will and God’s will can and will overcome your husbands free will.
 
God will not take away your Husband’s free will. However praying about it is good. God may grant your husband graces but these graces can be refused by a hardened heart. Remember we can only control what we do so don’t forget to ask God for graces for yourself to help deal with this problem as well.

My marriage too went through some very difficult times. I will recommend to you what God sent to me that helped me through it. www.marriagebuilders.com along with the books Surviving an Affair and Fall in Love, Stay in Love. Even when people fall out of Love, a marriage need not be over, Love can be restored, and Dr. Harley has some sure fire advice on how to do that.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
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If one believe, God will manifest His will on his life, because God’s will is certainly stronger than that of man’s. Man’s free will is to choose whether he want to belive God or not. If he believes, God’s will will be done, for His will is stronger than of man’s. But if man does not believe Him, he does not belong to Him, but to the other. The other will oppress him forcing him to do things he does not want to do, he becomes a slave. A slave is without freewill to do, but if he only shout to his Father for help, his Father will run to help him from his oppresssors. Denouncing the other as master is to repent and comeback home to God and to announce that He is our Lord (our Master), so that His will be done.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
Click to expand...
God’s will is that we love God above all and love all people as we love God.
In another word God’s will is that all mankind should be saved.
But because we are not robots since we have free will to chose then one person may move towards God’s will the other away from God’s will. I went through the same as you are. God’s will will be done. We must firstly ask was it God’s will to marry that person. Are we praying for God’s will then getting in the way of it. God asks us to love others unconditionally that means being open to loving when you don’t feel like doing so.
God has chosen a number of people with a certain amount of grace if you look at a garden of flowers you will see those little flowers those big flowers those that need a lot of tending those that need a little bit of tending. Unless we know the right mixture (love) and amount then we might kill the flowers that God want’s us to give only a little bit of (love) mixture to.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
Click to expand...
God’s will is that we love God above all and love all people as we love God.
In another word God’s will is that all mankind should be saved.
But because we are not robots since we have free will to chose then one person may move towards God’s will the other away from God’s will. I went through the same as you are. God’s will will be done. We must firstly ask was it God’s will to marry that person. Are we praying for God’s will then getting in the way of it. God asks us to love others unconditionally that means being open to loving when you don’t feel like doing so.
God has chosen a number of people with a certain amount of grace if you look at a garden of flowers you will see those little flowers those big flowers those that need a lot of tending those that need a little bit of tending. Unless we know the right mixture (love) and amount then we might kill the flowers that God want’s us to give only a little bit of (love) mixture to.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
Click to expand...
God’s will is that we love God above all and love all people as we love God.
In another word God’s will is that all mankind should be saved.
But because we are not robots since we have free will to chose then one person may move towards God’s will the other away from God’s will. I went through the same as you are. God’s will will be done. We must firstly ask was it God’s will to marry that person. Are we praying for God’s will then getting in the way of it. God asks us to love others unconditionally that means being open to loving when you don’t feel like doing so.
God has chosen a number of people with a certain amount of grace if you look at a garden of flowers you will see those little flowers those big flowers those that need a lot of tending those that need a little bit of tending. Unless we know the right mixture (love) and amount then we might kill the flowers that God want’s us to give only a little bit of (love) mixture to.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
Click to expand...
God’s will is that we love God above all and love all people as we love God.
In another word God’s will is that all mankind should be saved.
But because we are not robots since we have free will to chose then one person may move towards God’s will the other away from God’s will. I went through the same as you are. God’s will will be done. We must firstly ask was it God’s will to marry that person. Are we praying for God’s will then getting in the way of it. God asks us to love others unconditionally that means being open to loving when you don’t feel like doing so.
God has chosen a number of people with a certain amount of grace if you look at a garden of flowers you will see those little flowers those big flowers those that need a lot of tending those that need a little bit of tending. Unless we know the right mixture (love) and amount then we might kill the flowers that God want’s us to give only a little bit of (love) mixture to.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am a bit confused about this as they say that everything happens according to god’s will at the same time, they say that he gives u free will so obviously everything does not happen according to his will. Then how come they say that you should pray… let your will be done as obviously it is not his will that is done all the time.
Click to expand...
God’s will is that we love God above all and love all people as we love God.
In another word God’s will is that all mankind should be saved.
But because we are not robots since we have free will to chose then one person may move towards God’s will the other away from God’s will. I went through the same as you are. God’s will will be done. We must firstly ask was it God’s will to marry that person. Are we praying for God’s will then getting in the way of it. God asks us to love others unconditionally that means being open to loving when you don’t feel like doing so.
God has chosen a number of people with a certain amount of grace if you look at a garden of flowers you will see those little flowers those big flowers those that need a lot of tending those that need a little bit of tending. Unless we know the right mixture (love) and amount then we might kill the flowers that God want’s us to give only a little bit of (love) mixture to.
 
mariam1976 said:
i am talking about the petition type of prayer and i am praying for my marriage to be restored… i think that is what is God’s will… however, i dont see it being restored which tells me that my husband’s will is being done… how can this be that it is more powerful than god’s will???
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Mark 14, 36: " Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt." So you see, Jesus, the Son of God, had concerns that He addressed to His Father knowing that His Father will is what counted. God’s knows the trail you are suffering and for reasons that He along knows. Trust Him. Continue to pray for his will. God Bless.
 
mariam1976 said:
but if the situation has more than 1 person and only one person is open to God’s will, then it will be the other person’s will which will be done as God does not interfere with free will right?
Click to expand...
If your husband does not believe in the marriage, he will follow whatever he believes (his own will is his master), and God can’t speak to him anymore, will let him go wherever he choses to go. Now you are facing betrayal just as Jesus was betrayed. This does not mean that man’s will is stronger, because Jesus-- after the betrayal was crucified and died-- rose from the dead.

I think it’s the big mystery of life, to love and being loved. Our relationship with our spouses are ideally similar to our relationship with God (faithful to each other). But in non ideal situation, God shows His ultimate faithfulness to those who believe Him. This is all that I know, and my testimony for you : that He carries me through difficult situations. I can only pray for you.
 
This is my uneducated opinion. I believe that God gives us free will to believe in him or not. I also think that he gives us free will to follow his teachings or how willing we are to learn and grow in faith.

I fell away from the church for many years but I never stopped believing in God. For a couple of months now I have been really reaching out to God and establishing a relationship with him. I have reviewed the past few years of my life and can clearly see that God was still working even though I wasn’t listening for all of those years. There were many many times that He was working and only until now can I recognize that it was him.

So to put it simply, my thought is that Just believing in God even with the smallest amount of faith is all it takes for God to work his will.
 
When my dad was being a pain 6 years ago mum prayed the novena that we could all resolve our differences. He left. It wasn’t what she expected, but as things have turned out, it seems it was for the best. God’s will, not thine, not mine, be done.
 
thank you for all your responses… i love all the support that i get on this forum… believe me, that is the only thing that is keeping me going right now…
the response that i keep getting from God is Pray… and thats what has me most confused…
wont there be a point when God should say stop praying as my husband is not listening to his will anymore regarding this?

anyways… like FightingFat said… although her father left, it was for the best…
 
I don’t know what the issue is, but don’t forget that marriage is also about compromise. I don’t think it is right to look at it from the angle that your pray for God to impose his will on your husband. Don’t forget too that prayer does not work like magic, you shouldn’t expect God to flip a switch in your husbands head that will make everything better. That website I mentioned has some great message boards with some great people that can give you some great advice. Be aware that God often works through us, don’t expect him to just change the way things are. Expect that you will need to take action yourself. Definitely if the marriage is in trouble you need to stop doing things that upset your husband and start doing things that make him happy, you will need God’s help to do this, but if you can make him stop thinking negatively about you and the marriage it can only help. I wouldn’t try and tell him what God wants him to do. I hope I am not presuming anything, I just mean this as general advice. Perhaps you would like to discuss the issues involved in more depth so people could provide more specific advice.
 
All I am asking from God is that He gives my husband the wish to reconcile and come back into the marriage. I want to work at all the mistakes that I made in this marriage and make it right. I am not asking God to change anything in my husband.
I cannot communicate with him anymore as anything I do just makes matters worse which is why I have left everything in HIS hands. He does not want to talk to me anymore as he is done with the marriage as far as I can see.
I do see all the things that he did wrong but I am also reminded of the things that he did right and how I was not always sensitive and kind which is what I want to work on. I do know that I might not have the chance to do that. But thank you just the same. I can just ask for all your prayers and hope for God’s will to be done no matter what that is.
This forum is really awesome and all you people are too and I thank God for every one of you and for guiding me here.
 
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