How does prayer work?

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
a reply to: Woodcarver

You are just placing prayer there because it is a convenient place for you to hide any uncertainty.

Just like learning to swim at first we have doubts and fears... Some can never overcome those fears and never learn how to swim ... Now back to prayer and how it works and why it may not in cases . From the Book of James which is where we get instructions ..1:6 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.…

So first, i need to believe whole heartedly, and then the evidence will flow, correct?

That would also work for fairies though. If i believe that fairies are at work all around me, i would naturally percieve all events as being manipulated by fairies.

Do you see the problem with believing in things that cannot be rightfully percieved by physical means?

originally posted by: Seede
a reply to: Woodcarver

More or less I am asking for an explanation of how prayers work, and why most prayers don't work.

Prayer is not explained very easily. My understanding is that one must realize exactly what prayer is. It can be a conversation between a deity and the creation or it can be pleading for an intervention of some sort. [asking for a favor] --
In the first century Christianity the Creator gave His creation the gifts of the Holy Spirit as is taught in 1st Corinthians Chapter 12. Most all Christian denominations today do not subscribe to the gifts of the Creator as described in 1st Corinthians Chapter 12. So it is a matter of what you believe and how you believe. There are some things in life that are not the permissive will of God and there are some things in life that are the permissive will of God. God has a perfect will and a permissive will.

A good example is death. Death is a perfect will of the Creator which cannot be bargained. Even though a person can be healed from a malady many times over, by the permissive will of God, there comes a time for God's perfect will to be realized. So in respect of 1st Corinthians it is a gift of God and not anything that we can demand or gain favor. I knew a man of many years ago who would lock himself in a room and talk things over with his Creator. At times it would be several hours just discussing the heavenly things of his understanding. Was this man crazy? Many thought so and many did not think so. It all depends upon what you believe.

This post really bothers me. Some things i'd like to point out. You say in your first sentence that prayer is not easily explained, that is fair enough, but then you don't even try to explain it in this entire post.

You do go on to define it, which is pretty good and more than most people offer. But you define it as a conversation between a deity and its creation. This first definition makes two blazing pre-suppositions.

first, that a deity actually exists. Second, that it created us. These are obviously not proven points. No matter how much you want to claim that it is or that you believe in a specific one. In fact, the most important tenet of religious practice is Faith. Even more so, the entire reason you believe in gods is that you were convinced at some time that faith is more important than evidence.

This right here, is the hardest point to get a "believer" to process. The existence of gods has obviously never been proven. None of the thousands of assumed deities across the planet and 100,000's of years of them being pre-supposed by every single tribe, community, civilisation, that has ever existed. You don't believe in any of those gods. But if i could bring one of those people back here, they would believe just as vigorously as you do, that their god was the true god. They would point out all of the same things that have convinced you, as the things that convinced them. All the while making every excuse for why you can't percieve a god in a physical way. He is just that powerful. He's so strong that he can contradict pure logic and step outside the bounds of paradoxes. You are taught to believe things before the observation of that thing. Which is the exact opposite of rational thought.

Make the physical observation first, then a hypothesis, build the theory with demonstratable practices and experiments with variations. All the while only using observed events to further the theory.


As for the rest of your post. Do you really want someone who locks themselves in a room, claims to be talking to a god, and then comes out with a plan, you want that guy making important decisions? Not the guy who is looking over the plans and talking to appropriately trained people, doing the math, and following proper procedures?

a reply to: Woodcarver

Its a spiritual exercise, that is continuing effort through life, its connecting with the spirit and finding out who you really are and your connection to mother earth.. Explaining how a prayer works, is useless, its an inner dialogue that will only be revealed to you..

There is no science behind a prayer, you can do it anyway you like, a prayer might be unsuited for just you... Taking a hike, fishing just a simple walk, is sorta the same thing..

I feel bad for you if you cant connect to the spirit, even the Native Indians, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Africans, Aboriginals, Norse, Druidic, Egyptian, Babylonian, every culture in the world has their own way of praying..

When you make your artwork, that is the same as praying and you connect to the spirit..

originally posted by: tikbalang
a reply to: Woodcarver

Its a spiritual exercise, that is continuing effort through life, its connecting with the spirit and finding out who you really are and your connection to mother earth.. Explaining how a prayer works, is useless, its an inner dialogue that will only be revealed to you..

There is no science behind a prayer, you can do it anyway you like, a prayer might be unsuited for just you... Taking a hike, fishing just a simple walk, is sorta the same thing..

I feel bad for you if you cant connect to the spirit, even the Native Indians, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Africans, Aboriginals, Norse, Druidic, Egyptian, Babylonian, every culture in the world has their own way of praying..

When you make your artwork, that is the same as praying and you connect to the spirit..

Can you define spirit?

a reply to: Woodcarver

You want me to define spirit? Intuition

a reply to: Woodcarver

Familiarize yourself with dimensions. LINK

Below, you are trapped in Samsara, or the cycle of birth and death. This is evolution, or what the Bible calls rising to new life. Baptism is involution. E in Latin means out of. Volution means circling a center. Prayer is calling to center, or yoga (union) with your higher nature. The higher nature faces God. This is you above by dimension. God is the 10th dimension, or absolute unity of the relative parts below into the abyss here. We are ignorance of our higher state in a state of evolution. Our Higher nature is perfected. You call in prayer to your own higher nature, which then calls out to God on your behalf. Angels (YOU above) are messengers to God. Below, you are the child (wandering sheep).

Matthew 18

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Who are you below? the Child (Wandering Sheep). Above, the Angel. Again, from Matthew 18.

10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Prayer is gaining union (yoga) with the higher mind. Evolution is movement. Meditation is Ecstasy. Ec in Latin means out of. Stasis is rest. Prayer is calling out. Meditation is listening. YOU are the one you contact. Entangled.

Matthew 18

18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Who are the two gathered? You and You. God is right there with you at center.

Good morning Woodcarver

From a Christian Theism world view, prayer is having a personal relationship with out creator through His son the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer is not just vain petitions to the universe for what we want. It is engaging on a personal journey of discovery as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Prayer for a Christian is not one sided. The Lord speaks back to us if we have the ears to listen.

These are some basic reasons why prayers are not answered

1. God the Father may say NO, or say wait for the situation you are praying for.
2. God the Father may say no if you are seeking something for purely selfish and destructive motives of the heart.
3. Sin (missing the mark, going off track from God's path for your life), interferes and dulls our ability to hear from the Lord or can block us from receiving answers we seek.

For example if you are a married man and you mistreat your wife it will block your prayers from being heard
"Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered." 1 Peter 3:7

Unconfessed sin - If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” Psalm 66:18.

Having a lack of faith - Mark 6:1-6 "And he could not do any work of power there, save that laying his hands on a few infirm persons he healed [them]. 6 And he wondered because of their unbelief. And he went round the villages in a circuit, teaching.

James 1:6-8 but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about; 7 for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord; 8 [he is] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Unforgiveness towards others Math 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

How does prayer work? The LORD pointed me to these verses? Let us reason together.

Isaiah 41:23
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Leviticus 17:3
What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,

Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Prayer is communication?

Matthew 5:37
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Matthew 8:9
For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Communicate it and believe it! Hope these verses help you!

Wait I have it backwards 'BELIEVE it even before you communicate it! GOD is GOOD! GOOD Shepard is JESUS

it doesn't. Next...a reply to: Woodcarver