Prayer and free will

[James_2_24]

Can someone help me understand how prayer affects free will, if at all? I am having a difficulty here. This “problem” arose when I was praying for the success of my company. That is, that the company I am with will gain more clients in order to be successful.

However, when I was praying I began to think: "If God were to answer this prayer He basically would have to make people buy our product (i.e. my prayer was that we would get clients).
If he made people buy our product in order to answer my prayer for company success, this would mean he had taken away their free will to choose what they want to do.

Then I started to think about people like Mother Angelica who, in trying to start EWTN, prayed for success of the company and, in one instance, a check arrived for the exact amount that she needed to continue. God answered her prayers… she needed 600,000 and a check arrived for 600,000 at the moment she was praying for it. But in order to answer her prayer God made someone make the decision to donate. Is this a violation of free will?

 

[Joysong]

Dear James,

"If God were to answer this prayer He basically would have to make people buy our product (i.e. my prayer was that we would get clients).

He doesn’t make them buy, in violation of free will, but He certainly does inspire our thinking. When a thought comes back into my head over and over again, with deep peace and an inclination to fulfill the desire, we might conclude that often God is the author. Remember the psalm, “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” ??

We are able to say no to good thoughts, or even think that they originated as our own ideas.

My guess is that God will inspire people to discover this wonderful product, through chance, better marketing, more courtesy demonstrated by employees, etc. I’m thinking about a place I went to recently to purchase a part, and the clerk was so obnoxious and arrogant, that I would beat a path anywhere else but that store, if I ever needed another part.

God could inspire your boss to use more creative advertising, or have a sale, or any number of ideas to bring in clients to buy the product. And never forget the awesome power of word of mouth! One satisfied customer can bring in ten more!

Carole

 

[puzzleannie]

If God in His wisdom plans that your company should be successful He will not further that goal by depriving you, your customers or your employees of their free will. He may inspire you to adopt management and business practices that not only display fidelity to the commandments and Christian principles but also make your company more responsive to customer needs and a better place to work. He may inspire your employees to be more productive and treat customers better. He may inspire your customers to appreciate the benefits of doing business with a right-minded businessman. He may inspire you to devote part of your profits to charity. He may use the viscitudes of business to make you a better person through your response to those challenges.

 

[Joysong]

Dear James,

I thought over another part of your post that I did not address previously.

God answered her prayers… she needed 600,000 and a check arrived for 600,000 at the moment she was praying for it. But in order to answer her prayer God made someone make the decision to donate. Is this a violation of free will?

Again, God did not make the person donate, but rather inspired and importuned someone whom He foreknew would be open to His inspirations in prayer. The whole praying world is in His hands, and He knows whom He can tap resourcefully to provide an answer to another person’s prayer.

A very beautiful testimony of the same kind as Mother Angelica’s is the autobiography of George Muller. He founded many orphanages in the 1800’s solely on faith and prayer. In fact, he forbade his employees to make their requests known to anyone outside of their immediate prayer circle. They were to trust totally on God’s providence and keep their prayer intentions secret. In this way, when the answer came in the form of an exact amount needed, they could truly glorify and thank God.

Carole

 

[LSK]

I also believe that true prayer FOR something always includes the idea that it happen if it BE God’s Will…in other words…“please, Lord, I am praying for the success of my company, if it be Your Will”…and I believe - though I could be wrong - that the concept of obedience to the Will of God has always been the underlying foundation of Mother Angelica’s ministry with EWTN.

I have not yet read the book, but I seem to remember her saying on one of her shows that at times, when things were dicy in the money areas, her prayers were sometimes in the realm of “Lord, perhaps I am not meant to continue this station. If that is so, then I accept that…but if we are to continue then we need your help, and we need it fast”. And help would arrive…so, I don’t know if this helps but it is my two or three cents worth…

 

[James_2_24]

What about this scenario? I pray for my sister to convert to Catholicism. But if God grants my petition – it would imply
that he made my sister convert. Would it not?

 

[Joysong]

Dear James,

The last scenario seems almost like the other - that God somehow would force Catholicism on your sister without her free will. I’m not sure how you embraced this concept, but I think you misunderstood somebody’s teaching of it.

For example, I have prayed for a family member’s conversion for thirty years, and have seen no answer to my prayer - not even a spark of hope. I believe He inspired these two analogies to keep me going.

When a gardener wants to grow flowers, the important thing to note is the germination period, for that is the length of time we need to keep water on it. A marigold or zinnia opens in about five days. Yet the sweet pea has a very hard outer shell and it takes a very long time (I forget, but it was considerable). What if we saw no results and withheld water? The seed would die and never germinate and grow.

The other example taught me to keep putting a daily deposit in the bank account of prayer - little bit by little bit, until the balance becomes extremely large. At that point, the banker can apply the entire deposit of built-up prayer in one overwhelming conversion of grace. I believe this was what St. Monica’s prayers did to gift the Church with the giant of a saint that her son, Augustine, became.

God uses our prayers to importune the soul we pray for. They can say “no” until they die, ultimately facing eternal death. Yet we can implore God to continue knocking at the door of their heart and one day, they may open to Him. But it has to be a free response.

Carole