Why pray - we really don't affect anything do we?

[ZMystiCat]

This is admittedly one area where my faith wavers terribly. Part of it might be due to not fully getting rid of the influences of being raised on the Prosperity Gospel. However, if there is one thing I regrettably liked about Presbyterianism over Pentecostalism and Catholicism is that we weren’t as focused on testimonies of answered prayer. It isn’t that I’m not happy for those God is helping, but at times it leads me to despair since I honestly have no moment in my life that I can point to and say, “Oh, hey, prayer helped me deal with this situation!” At least, none of the ways prayer has helped reflect the usual testimonials of, “God helped me through this horrible situation by [insert miracle here].” If anything, I sometimes don’t want to ask God for anything, since it feels like I’m inviting Him to make sure I can’t have it. I know that isn’t the right attitude to have, but it is one that I have to overcome to maintain a proper prayer life.

As for overcoming that feeling, a few things that do help are:

1. Understanding that God wants us to pray. Jesus taught us to pray with the Our Father, and He consistently set an example for us in prayer. He also commanded us to be persistent (Lk. 18:1-8), and Paul commanded us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). If nothing else, we should do it because it pleases God that we do.
2. Even Jesus had desires that He prayed for but wasn’t granted. Yes, His greater desire was to fulfill the will of the Father, but He made it clear in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane that He had a desire for things to happen differently. This also highlights that, while we may pray for things, we should always ultimately be willing to submit to what the Father wants.
3. Despite a near total lack of any “yes” to something physical I prayed for, God has used prayer to help me spiritually. I would probably still be struggling with some pretty grave sins if not for prayer, and prayer has offered a lot of comfort in times of anxiety even as I’m keeping the thing that makes me anxious in mind. These are just a couple examples of how prayer has helped spiritually.
4. While I may not have asked for anything specific, there have been times where after spending time praying to God expressing sorrow over something in my life things have improved, either literally or in my attitude. Yeah, it might just be a coincidence, but it’s possible God took pity on me, even if I didn’t offer an exact way I wanted things fixed.

Anyways, I hope that helps a little. Like I said, it is still something I struggle with, and short of some change to how things usually are, I’d imagine it will be a struggle of mine for a while.

 

[LJL5]

I think I understand what you are saying. I sat at my Father’s bed night after night in the hospital, praying the rosary, prayers out of my prayer books and I knew , just knew I was losing him the whole time and that this was it, even though he had pulled through trial after trial before that last hospital stay. Later on , I knew that the prayer was less about him than it was about me and my family. Prayer is a sort of conversation I suppose with the Lord. We rarely stay silent in prayer to allow the reply to come through - that synchronicity that others have spoken of. What I learned from that prayer experience is that I didn’t understand why I had to lose my Father or why he had to suffer that way, but if I trust in the Lord as I say I do, I will understand it when we meet face to face. I believe that this is some pale shade of what Our Lady went through watching her Son suffer and die so tortuously, I can’t imagine she wasn’t praying too and yet her prayer wasn’t answered in that tangible way. I am so sorry for your loss, it affects you in ways that will continue to be revealed over time and you will think of your Sister and feel that intense love and loss and it will make you sensitive to every person you meet who suffers similarly. Through the compassion you show to them will be an answer to your prayers. She will merit from your prayer and so will you but you won’t understand perfectly how or how much until you meet again in heaven. So your prayer wasn’t in vain, it isn’t worthless and you had a chance to show her love - real love that isn’t all that common you know. We think because we sit by the sick beds, take the loved one to treatments and doctor’s appts that this is what anyone would do. I believe that isn’t the case, that’s what prayer does for you and for her - it gave you the strength to stay the course and not leave her or deny the truth of what was happening to her. You stood at the foot of the cross. God bless you and keep praying!

 

[midori]

But that’s the whole point— it’s never anything that we do ourselves. It’s all a present from God. And it makes me happy when people have those little brushes with the Divine that make them go, “Ahhh! I see.” Even if it’s just for a moment.