Thursday, May 25, 2006

Prayer Changes Things ... or Does It?

Prayer is a great treat for the believer. It is an opprotunity to talk, converse, listen, communicate with our heavenly Father. It is the highpoint of our fellowship relationship with him through the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ. How does it affect our understanding or doing the will of the Father? Dig into these questions for the week from Meadors' book on the subject of finding and doing the will of God in daily decision-making.

DQ’s for Chapter 10
  1. “Skilled and hardworking persons always have more opportunities than they can fulfill.” (p.187) Are “open doors” always indicators of God’s will?
  2. What is the role of prayer in the decision making process? What part do values play in prayer? What is the faith of our prayers in?
  3. Should we expect that God will reveal his will to us because of our prayers?
  4. Is the popular expression “prayer changes things” a truism to live by? If it is true, how will it affect your prayer life? What types of things will we pray for? If it is not true, how can it be rewritten to be true?
  5. Talk your way through 1 Thes. 5:16-18 in light of God’s will.
  6. “Prayer recognizes God’s sovereign will.” How then do we deal with God’s “no” answers to our prayers? How can we get excited about a “no” answer?
  7. If God cannot be manipulated by our prayers, why is it that we must pray? What does prayer reflect about our relationship with God? Discuss several times when God did and when He did not intervene in your life’s events as a result of your prayers. How should you process the days of disappointment with prayer’s power?

How should I pray for you? Drop me a note and keep me updated!

Striving to exercise fervent prayer that is effectual,

Mike

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. Interesting point....It seems that our church leadership team (a.k.a. church board) seems to think that when a door opens, it must me right and it must be the only door and it MUST be God's will.
4. I believe that prayer changes everything. Try praying for one of your "enemies" sometime and see what happens..... Maybe the change that occurs isn't quite what you expected it to be!
6. Or, how can you NOT get excited about a no answer? You just asked the one and only, THE God for something and he responded. How many other gods do you know that will respond every time you ask?
7. with more prayer comes less of us asking God to give us what we want and more of us giving God what he wants.

A really good book that is about due for a re-read: "Too Busy not To Pray" by Bill Hybels

7:54 AM, May 26, 2006
Pastor Mike Paris said...

THad-

4. is prayer changing things a way of saying that we can manipulate God's plan for us?

6. a no answer may seem like a "non-answer" which I'm not sure everyone could get excited about.
But I can get excited about teh idea that God's no to my small thinkng request is a yes to his bigger thinking!

7. What is it that God wants more of?

Thanks for posting,
Mike

10:21 AM, May 26, 2006

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