Prayer and Ggod intervening

[angell1]

sorry guys, I’m still quite confused

from the couple previous questions I’ve posted, I’m sitlll a bit lost

based on the responses I’ve gotten to far, it seems like God doesn’t usually intervene in our lives? is this what I’m understanding? but if he did intervene, we wouldn’t know about it. for example, maybe based on someone’s actions, I was going to get hit by a car today, but God intervened and it didn’t happen. or does je just not intervene at all. if someone decides to do something evil, does it always get carried out until the end? he could intervene in the consequences instead of the free will, couldn’t he? the person is still intending on doing something reckless and sets out to, but ends up failing.

but if he never stops anything, then why do we pray? I know we can’t change God’s mind, so to speak but then what’s the point of asking for other people to get better or pray for disasters in the world? if he is going to stop something, won’t he do it regardless of if we ask or not? and if something is meant by got to happen, even if we pray as hard as we can, it’s wouldn’t change anything.

a good overview would be much appreciated. thanks. I know we can’t understand everything but a little more clarity would help

 

[DavidFilmer]

God won’t meddle with our free will (or else it wouldn’t be free). This applies to everybody, even bad people. God will not stop a bad person from doing a bad thing, even if it harms a good person.

This even applies when the person would not know about the inteference. If a person is going to rob a bank, God will not cause him to have a flat tire, preventing the act (and the getaway).

God does, however, offer prevenient Grace to everybody. This is the calling towards God which motivates our conversion (prevenient Grace is not, itself, a saving Grace - it calls us to salvation, but does not provide it). It’s possible that God may apply prevenient Grace in some fashion to make it more “effective” on the bad guy, while still leaving him capable of refusing it (thus, free will is preserved). The Church does not teach this (that God applies prevenient Grace differently as a response to prayer) one way or another, but it is not contrary to anything the Church teaches and is compatible with what the Church does teach, so any Catholic is free to believe it (as do I).

But, most of the things I pray about don’t have anything to do with the evil actions of others. In fact, many of my prayers are not about the free will of other people, but my own free will. I would be quite happy to completely surrender it to God, but he won’t take it from me even if I ask him to.

We can pray about natural disasters, disease, etc without asking God to meddle with somebody’s free will.

 

[fred_conty]

sorry guys, I’m still quite confused

from the couple previous questions I’ve posted, I’m sitlll a bit lost

based on the responses I’ve gotten to far, it seems like God doesn’t usually intervene in our lives? is this what I’m understanding? but if he did intervene, we wouldn’t know about it. for example, maybe based on someone’s actions, I was going to get hit by a car today, but God intervened and it didn’t happen. or does je just not intervene at all. if someone decides to do something evil, does it always get carried out until the end? he could intervene in the consequences instead of the free will, couldn’t he? the person is still intending on doing something reckless and sets out to, but ends up failing.

but if he never stops anything, then why do we pray? I know we can’t change God’s mind, so to speak but then what’s the point of asking for other people to get better or pray for disasters in the world? if he is going to stop something, won’t he do it regardless of if we ask or not? and if something is meant by got to happen, even if we pray as hard as we can, it’s wouldn’t change anything.

a good overview would be much appreciated. thanks. I know we can’t understand everything but a little more clarity would help

If I understand your problem… “if he is going to stop something, won’t he do it regardless of if we ask or not?”

It may look that way sometimes, but the answer is no, he does ask us in certain cases to pray to change things.

Now how can he change things because …takes another thread.

For this thread, he can and does change things thru prayer…our requests.

Here is one example. There are many more.
therealpresence.org/archives/Miracles/Miracles_002.htm

May the God of peace make you like his Son.

 

[PolarGuy]

Angell1, I think God intervenes in our lives all the time. ALL the time.

To the extent some may say that God will not interfere with our free will, I can only state that we will not know, until the next life, the number of times God may place a thought; a feeling; a desire; etc., into our heads.

As someone I respect a great deal said, rather colloquially, “we have a BIG God!” (ie He can do a great deal!) He flung stars into the sky – of course he can give the criminal second thoughts about committing the crime, before it gets committed.

As to prayer, how can God answer the phone if you don’t place the call to Him? (I speak rhetorically; he can, but calling never hurts…).

 

[mariemargaret]

Angell1, I think God intervenes in our lives all the time. ALL the time.

To the extent some may say that God will not interfere with our free will, I can only state that we will not know, until the next life, the number of times God may place a thought; a feeling; a desire; etc., into our heads.

As someone I respect a great deal said, rather colloquially, “we have a BIG God!” (ie He can do a great deal!) He flung stars into the sky – of course he can give the criminal second thoughts about committing the crime, before it gets committed.

As to prayer, how can God answer the phone if you don’t place the call to Him? (I speak rhetorically; he can, but calling never hurts…).

This!!

And, I’d add that He not only puts thought into our heads, but also into the heads of those around us. I have had people say things to me that I felt deeply were words I needed to pay attention to. When giving those words that attention, they helped me to make a decision or have peace about something, or somehow applied to something that was on my heart. So, not only in our own heads, but in the people around us!

 

[ready]

sorry guys, I’m still quite confused

from the couple previous questions I’ve posted, I’m sitlll a bit lost

based on the responses I’ve gotten to far, it seems like God doesn’t usually intervene in our lives? is this what I’m understanding? but if he did intervene, we wouldn’t know about it. for example, maybe based on someone’s actions, I was going to get hit by a car today, but God intervened and it didn’t happen. or does je just not intervene at all. if someone decides to do something evil, does it always get carried out until the end? he could intervene in the consequences instead of the free will, couldn’t he? the person is still intending on doing something reckless and sets out to, but ends up failing.

but if he never stops anything, then why do we pray? I know we can’t change God’s mind, so to speak but then what’s the point of asking for other people to get better or pray for disasters in the world? if he is going to stop something, won’t he do it regardless of if we ask or not? and if something is meant by got to happen, even if we pray as hard as we can, it’s wouldn’t change anything.

a good overview would be much appreciated. thanks. I know we can’t understand everything but a little more clarity would help

God has a plan, and part of that plan involves that we ask God (pray) for what we need. As part of God’s plan certain things must be prayed for in order for God to grant them; other things He grants without our praying for them. God intervenes when necessary; if He does not will for something to happen He will not permit it to be carried out – He would have it fail or stopped. We can’t change God’s Will, but in order for us to get certain graces and blessings we must ask for them in order to receive them. God bless you.