Posted on 12/26/2011 9:04:02 AM PST by Salvation
Since the poster left this discussion “Open,” I will offer another, but similar perspective from another religion.
We Mahayana Buddhists pray to the Buddhas mostly for help in our spiritual practices. We ask them to purify our minds of obstructing thoughts, and to bless our minds with helpful thoughts, especially blessings that will ripen latent spiritual tendencies. Our motivation is to become Buddhas ourselves, because only Buddhas can be of the ultimate help in relieving others from their suffering and bringing them pure happiness.
In terms of “unanswered” prayers in this regard, we assume full responsibility: We check our own mind, our motivation, the purity of our request, the obstacles to spiritual progress we can remove on our own, the lack of effort we are making to ripen our latent spiritual tendencies - all of which are simply the results of our own karmic tendencies. We would agree with the Christian tenet that “God helps those who help themselves.”
In terms of prayers made on behalf of others, with an appreciation for the full, complex, eternal sweep of karma, as well as the long and extensive path to achieve Buddhahood, free from all suffering, we offer our prayers with pretty much the same attitude Christians use: “Your will, not my will.” Only Buddhas are omniscient. Only they have the wisdom to see the path each person must take to ultimate happiness, free of all suffering. If we simply pray for such happiness for others, rather than pretending we know the short-term particulars that will get them there, we can rest sure that their needs are being met when we pray.
I like “tempering.” Sometimes beating, sometimes thrusting into fire, sometimes plunging into cold water. Tempering.
What if.. “NO” or “You can’t have that” or simply “you ask wrongly”
IS THE ANSWER...
1 John 3 gives us a few conditions for answered prayer:
21 Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22 and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
Like I said..
In all fairness, what does one ask God? A lot of humbleness can be earned if someone writes down a single prayer request they want to make and actually think about it for a single day.
Say a loved one is sick. You can go many directions from there, about how they are sick, why they are sick, what treatments exist for them. And you need to ask yourself that this is their life, do you truly want to invoke God to change their life?
People have been designed to be infants, young, adult and old. In their lives they face challenges, success and failure, and the possibility of many different infirmities, some they will overcome, and some they will not. Eventually everyone will physically die.
Do you disagree that this is the way things should be, enough so that you want God to change it?
And back to this being your prayer. Are your motives pure? Or are they because you are afraid of life and death, loneliness and pain, and when you see it in another, it invokes your self-pity and self-importance. Is your prayer to God that may what is happening to them never happens to you?
Are you praying to God for bad or petty reasons?
Perhaps the proper mood for prayer is the belief that it may be the last prayer in your life, so you had better make it a good one.
Recently my wife was in the Hospital with a recurrence of a bacterial infection that caused her to have an altered mental status. The Doctors kept trying to tell me that it was a late onset mental disorder. I prayed that prayer it seemed like every 5 minutes until they came around to my way of thinking. I kept being persistent but polite and reiterating the facts of the case.
That prayer got me to sleep at night along with the Divine mercy chaplet.
Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?
Because you don’t understand the nature of prayer.
God always answers our prayers...But sometimes the answer is “no.”
Sorry to hear about your wife. What is the prognosis now?
**In all fairness, what does one ask God?**
First of all, give THANKS.
Thank Jesus for being there with you.
Thank him for your family.
Thank him for your belief in God.
Thank him for _______________________you fill in the blanks.
Then I always think some praise is due.
Jesus, you are most holy among men.
Jesus, you are Son of God and Son of Mary
Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father
and so forth———————
Then I spend some time in silence listening.
Then I might get around to asking for God’s guidance (wisdom as mentioned above) with ________________________ you can fill that in too.
And I go back to the praise.
Then the silence and listening.
Then petitions for my family, sick friends, etc.
Then more silence and listening.
Then final words of praise or a song of a Psalm.
Then Amen. And keep quiet for about a half hour afterward.
This can take up an entire hour. But it is worth it.
ALWAYS start with thanksgiving.
Thank you, she is much better now. The short term memory is a little weak, but the long term is improving rapidly.
1 Kings 8:28 Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.
Proverbs 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.frefre
Jeremiah 32:16 "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD:
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Matthew 6:31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--
1 Timothy 5:5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
I will be saying a Divine Mercy and Rosary for her and others. Amen.
I will be saying a Divine Mercy and Rosary for her and others. Amen.
I hate when it repeats. Good Grief!
Technically the prayers are not unanswered any more then your child's request for a slice of cake before dinner is unanswered.
"Not now" is an answer.
"No" is an answer.
"I have something else in mind for you" is also an answer.
The most heartbreaking answer God can give for Him and for you is, "I can only offer." Human free will when we are praying for the salvation of a loved one has to be taken into account.
You seem to forget its the personal true God to true God that we pray to as Lord of Lords. Not wish upon a star to make “feel good” only wishes. Some mumbo jumbo wish mediation.
We would agree with the Christian tenet that “God helps those who help themselves.”
No Such tenet. People mistakenly declare this by mistake. not in scripture.
Praise the Lord for that recovery! Prayers answered, I’m sure, perhaps not exactly as you might have wished. But we cannot judge God’s will, can we?
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