327 Market

As per Ariel's request, I have put my further comments here on his entry about prayer here. Here's the Back story

When I first saw rick's question-- "God didn't answer your prayer was because you didn't fully trust Him?" He makes God sound like he's waving around some Faith-o-Meter and if the reading is low... bammo! Nothing for you. The first thing that came to my mind is the end of the David and Bathsheba incident. In Samuel 2 12:16, 17. David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. David seems to be doing everying right and yet his prayer is not answered. If you look at the whole story, there are bigger issues than David's faith.

Looking at the Lord's Prayer... the first thing that Jesus does is acknowledge the Lord's sovereignty. Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Clearly, the Lord does what he wants. When I say those words, I am aligning my will with God's. Not the other way around. Granted, there are things that I want to see happen, for whatever good or bad personal reason. In the past, I have been grateful that God chose to ignore my pleas. Like when I wanted cute Robert M to propose to me in the seventh grade. I am happy praying for what I want and then leaving it to God to do the best thing. I am confident that the Lord knows the situation better than I and has a infinitely more interesting plan than I could ever concieve.

I agree with R. Sherman-- "I believe in the power of prayer and I believe that God hears us... the idea of a lack of faith being the reason for a "No" from God, fails to acknowledge his sovereignity in the world and in our lives as Christians. I say "Thy will be done" is the best prayer there is."