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A verse (and soon, accompanying art) every Wednesday to help you center yourselves on God's Word!
Pray without ceasing. -- 1 Thessalonians 5.17 ESV
The churches meeting in Thessalonica were worried. Somehow, whether through a traveling false teacher or an over-zealous interpretation of events, the teaching that Jesus could return at any moment had morphed into pattern of irresponsible, lazy and in some cases immoral behavor.
So, on hearing about this problem, Paul set out to write a letter to help them understand that the best way they could look forward to coming of our Lord is through lives of productive holiness, working with the Holy Spirit to produce lives of joyful faithfulness.
In closing up this letter, Paul tells them, and tells us, to pray without ceasing. This doesn't mean that we need to be head-bowed, eyes-closed all the time, but what it does mean, is that our lives should be characterized by going to God in his Word and through prayer.
Not sure what to do? Thank God for being there, and ask him for wisdom! He will happily give us wisdom and the Holy Spirit if we just ask.
Pray without ceasing. -- 1 Thessalonians 5.17 ESV
The churches meeting in Thessalonica were worried. Somehow, whether through a traveling false teacher or an over-zealous interpretation of events, the teaching that Jesus could return at any moment had morphed into pattern of irresponsible, lazy and in some cases immoral behavor.
So, on hearing about this problem, Paul set out to write a letter to help them understand that the best way they could look forward to coming of our Lord is through lives of productive holiness, working with the Holy Spirit to produce lives of joyful faithfulness.
In closing up this letter, Paul tells them, and tells us, to pray without ceasing. This doesn't mean that we need to be head-bowed, eyes-closed all the time, but what it does mean, is that our lives should be characterized by going to God in his Word and through prayer.
Not sure what to do? Thank God for being there, and ask him for wisdom! He will happily give us wisdom and the Holy Spirit if we just ask.
Category Other / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1280 x 976px
File Size 109.8 kB
Listed in Folders
One thing that people seem to misunderstand is that praying is not just to get things you want or to have God alter events to make them more immediately fortuitous to the one praying. Nope, in fact, oftentimes in the Bible, God says "no" and the person praying doesn't get what they asked for. Hey, it even happened to Jesus Himself!
Then what's the purpose in praying at all?
When Christians talk about prayer in its deepest sense, we simply mean that we're talking with God, communicating with Someone we love and Who loves us back in ways greater, and more intensely than we could ever imagine. We aren't just asking for more stuff, but talking with Someone who has chosen us to be His closest friends among other things, and, if you would dare the expression, to be His "significant other".
And when we find we have a need in life, Jesus joyfully invites us to ask Him without fear. He may say no, but He doesn't begrudge us asking.
But prayer isn't a magic spell that makes things happen for "no reason" and much more importantly, prayer is communication between loved ones, so isn't really something that the scientific method can reasonably place in a lab and experiment on.
So reducing prayer to some sort of cosmic gumball machine - Insert Petition. Get Answer. - and then claiming that it's "scientifically proven to not work" when God decides to answer differently than what the "rules" would dictate, is pretty stupid to be somewhat blunt.
Then what's the purpose in praying at all?
When Christians talk about prayer in its deepest sense, we simply mean that we're talking with God, communicating with Someone we love and Who loves us back in ways greater, and more intensely than we could ever imagine. We aren't just asking for more stuff, but talking with Someone who has chosen us to be His closest friends among other things, and, if you would dare the expression, to be His "significant other".
And when we find we have a need in life, Jesus joyfully invites us to ask Him without fear. He may say no, but He doesn't begrudge us asking.
But prayer isn't a magic spell that makes things happen for "no reason" and much more importantly, prayer is communication between loved ones, so isn't really something that the scientific method can reasonably place in a lab and experiment on.
So reducing prayer to some sort of cosmic gumball machine - Insert Petition. Get Answer. - and then claiming that it's "scientifically proven to not work" when God decides to answer differently than what the "rules" would dictate, is pretty stupid to be somewhat blunt.
I went to that page in good faith, but unfortunately, it's just the same old rationalizations from people who really don't know how to interact with the Scripture, much less can say anything reasonably, or even Reason-based, about God. Christians have been answering such objections for the last 2000 years with wit, candor and warm-hearted insight. I would urge you to actually read what I've been saying though because that site makes the same mistakes that you did: Christians don't pray to get what we want. God tells us that many times, he will answer in a way that we don't understand. Sometimes we can see a "coincidental" set of circumstances that move into place after we pray - like getting the exact amount of rent money, or a school teacher finding homework she said didn't receive. But there are times when God says "no" or "wait" or his "yes" is answered in a way we aren't fully aware of.
Jesus asked the Father to take away the responsibility of needing to die for the sins of the world. The Father said "no."
Paul, one of the most prominent people under Jesus's authority to teach the world, had something bad enough in his life that he called it a "messenger of the devil". Many times he asked God to take it away. God said "no".
The early Christians who experienced persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire prayed for deliverance. God said "no" in most cases.
Tyndale was imprisoned and awaiting execution by Catholic authorities for translating the Bible into English. He prayed for escape, but he was burned at the stake.
God said "no" each of these cases and more. But more importantly, those "no"s were for a purpose.
Jesus's death brought forgiveness and pardon to those who would believe. Paul's "thorn in the flesh" kept him humble, taught him how to rely on the Lord and made him more empathetic to others in hard times. The persecutions helped to push Christians out of their comfort zones and into other parts of the Roman Empire, spreading the Love of God and the message of forgiveness in Jesus to many millions who'd not have heard it otherwise. Tyndale's death became one of the sparks of the Reformation that renewed the Church and again, brought the love of Jesus to many who'd not have experienced it otherwise.
It's the same reasoning behind a parent giving veggies at dinner or a teacher giving tough homework - the immediate circumstances may be icky, but they've got overall Best Results in mind. You'd never make it out of childhood if all you got was candy and sweets. You'd be a danger to your profession or unable to perform your duties if you weren't stretched academically to grow and thrive.
The Christian would never become more like Jesus, would never understand faith or God's faithfulness if we only got "yes" answers from a magic genie in the sky.
Jesus asked the Father to take away the responsibility of needing to die for the sins of the world. The Father said "no."
Paul, one of the most prominent people under Jesus's authority to teach the world, had something bad enough in his life that he called it a "messenger of the devil". Many times he asked God to take it away. God said "no".
The early Christians who experienced persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire prayed for deliverance. God said "no" in most cases.
Tyndale was imprisoned and awaiting execution by Catholic authorities for translating the Bible into English. He prayed for escape, but he was burned at the stake.
God said "no" each of these cases and more. But more importantly, those "no"s were for a purpose.
Jesus's death brought forgiveness and pardon to those who would believe. Paul's "thorn in the flesh" kept him humble, taught him how to rely on the Lord and made him more empathetic to others in hard times. The persecutions helped to push Christians out of their comfort zones and into other parts of the Roman Empire, spreading the Love of God and the message of forgiveness in Jesus to many millions who'd not have heard it otherwise. Tyndale's death became one of the sparks of the Reformation that renewed the Church and again, brought the love of Jesus to many who'd not have experienced it otherwise.
It's the same reasoning behind a parent giving veggies at dinner or a teacher giving tough homework - the immediate circumstances may be icky, but they've got overall Best Results in mind. You'd never make it out of childhood if all you got was candy and sweets. You'd be a danger to your profession or unable to perform your duties if you weren't stretched academically to grow and thrive.
The Christian would never become more like Jesus, would never understand faith or God's faithfulness if we only got "yes" answers from a magic genie in the sky.
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