Prayer and the will of God

[maiku]

I'm sure this question has been done to death in other threads but I can't find them so here goes:

When we pray for something, we are simply asking for things (blessings) our Heavenly Father is willing to give us, in other words, we aren't asking Him to change His will, right?

I always thought I understood the concept of prayer, that is, until I had a conversion with my "Atheist" cousin who thought prayer was ridiculous.

I did get him to admit that prayer was good for giving thanks to God for blessings received, but he didn't want to understand to meaning behind asking for blessings. His logic is, "if God wants to bless us with something, why do we need to ask for it?"

What is going on when we ask for something in a prayer?

Would Heavenly Father not give us a blessing if we don't ask for it?

These questions seem a little elementary to me but I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts in a concrete answer.

[RipplecutBuddha]

When we pray, we are asking for things we think are most important to us in our lives at the moment. However, because God has a far more expansive perspective, he can see what is really most important for us to recieve.

It is true that he wants us to have all the blessings of heaven, but the trick is our agency. God simply cannot do something we don't want him to do. We indicate our desires through prayer, and that is why we need to pray for certain blessings. We need to demonstrate that the blessing he wants us to recieve is in accordance with our will as well as his. God will not force his will upon us any more than we can impose our will upon God.

Thus when we are asking for something in prayer, we are hoping that our request is in accordance with God's will, though it may not be.

God gives blessings to us due to the faith and prayers of others all the time. For example, Alma's prayers for the welfare of his son Alma the Younger were fully in accordance with the will of God, and at the appropriate time, it was answered with generations of miraculous results.

I'm not sure if this helps address the questions you've been given from the atheist, but hopefully it will help you organize your thoughts.

[beefche]

Review "prayer" in the Bible Dictionary which is in the back of the bible published by the LDS church. Very good information about the purpose of prayer.

[Dravin]

Review "prayer" in the Bible Dictionary which is in the back of the bible published by the LDS church. Very good information about the purpose of prayer.

Also available online: Prayer

[tubaloth]

What is going on when we ask for something in a prayer?

It really comes down to this.

Moses 4:

1And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

2But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

Prayer is really recognizing Gods hand in all we do. Its more then giving thanks its knowing all happens because of God. When we pray, like it has been said, we are trying to join our will with Heavenly Fathers will. In a sense we become One! This is what prayer is, and what we are trying to learn. Its also a time to listen to God.

Would Heavenly Father not give us a blessing if we don't ask for it?

We can still get blessings for our Rightousness. When we keep the commandments we get His spirit. This isn't something we have to ask for. This is bases off of our own rightousness/covenants.

My rightousness/blessings doesn't transfer to others. When we pray for things for ourself, we are hoping that God will bless us in this given way, or answer our prayers. But when we are praying for others, it has to come from there own rightouness (to some extent) and God's Will. Now our Faith being in tune with God can have powerful effects on others behalf.

[MormonMama]

If you had a child and you could read their mind and heart, would you want to just anticipate all their needs and give them everything they need and want before they ask for it? Or would you rather they learn to ask nicely? Would you rather have that dialogue with them? Would you rather they have the opportunity to ask for things you can't or aren't willing to give them, so that they can learn why they can't get everything they want, or why they don't always need what they think they do?

I don't know if this is what goes through God's mind, but as a parent I would rather not hand my child everything they need and want before they even think to ask for it. How would we even know we've been blessed by God if he hands us those blessings before we even know we need or want them?

[Guest gopecon]

When we pray for help and receive it, we are more likely to recognize that we have been blessed by God, instead of writing off our blessing as good fortune. As MormomMama alluded to, we appreciate that which we have to work and struggle for.

I believe that there are many blessings out there that are essentially waiting to be claimed if we would just ask in faith and do what we need to to receive them.

[prophetofdoom]

One of the purposes of prayer is to ask for blessings that are conditional upon us asking for them. I believe that our Father in Heaven wants us to use our free agency to the best of our abilities. We use our free agency when we come to him and ask him for things in prayer.

I believe it also forces us to recognize God in our lives. If God simply blessed us and didn't make it conditional on us asking for it... we would see no need for God in our life. We would be unaware of the hand of God in our lives and would not be able to give God glory.

Edited July 26, 2011 by prophetofdoom

[Blackmarch]

I'm sure this question has been done to death in other threads but I can't find them so here goes:

When we pray for something, we are simply asking for things (blessings) our Heavenly Father is willing to give us, in other words, we aren't asking Him to change His will, right?

I always thought I understood the concept of prayer, that is, until I had a conversion with my "Atheist" cousin who thought prayer was ridiculous.

I did get him to admit that prayer was good for giving thanks to God for blessings received, but he didn't want to understand to meaning behind asking for blessings. His logic is, "if God wants to bless us with something, why do we need to ask for it?"

What is going on when we ask for something in a prayer?

Would Heavenly Father not give us a blessing if we don't ask for it?

These questions seem a little elementary to me but I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts in a concrete answer.

How often have we been told, "all you had to do was ask for it" ....

God wants us to progress...

Some things he will give us without us doing a thing to deserve it,

Other things we have to ask for because it shows some effort on our part as well as helps us focus.

And yet other things we have to really have to sweat and sacrifice for to get from god.

[slamjet]

I believe one of the most important part of prayer is to learn how to listen to the Spirit. God knows what we need, especially at this very moment. However, he waits for us to ask. I'm under the opinion from experience that He is a whole lot more involved with us than we will ever realize. It will be the Spirit who will whisper to us what it is we need to ask for. It is the spirit that will whisper to us what the Lord knows we need right now. Listening and telling him what we feel are our needs is designed as a lesson and practice session. So when you kneel down, take a moment to quiet your mind, reflect and clear it of any clutter. Start your prayer and listen and feel.