Fri morning I got a call that I was passed over for a job I had thought I was really going to get, so I spent the rest of the day in a funk. I was depressed and grouchy and wanting to know why God had lead me to feel I was going to get this job just for me to be turned down. And then, a few hours later, I got a call from the school that had turned me down. They had a job for me, a different BETTER job!
So I now have a FULL time, special needs PRESCHOOl job for next year!!
The things God does, even when we're whiny! I'm so glad He loves me much more than I often deserve! :)
16 comments:
i think you give God far too much credit and far too much blame for your life. Given all the needs int he world the last thing God is worrying about is whether you get a particular job or not. Sorry manda..on this one God says you are all on your own and it is your hard work, skill and personality that will determine what job you get..not God's interference.
Who is Jay Jay? Do I know you?
Well to JayJay, whoever you are... In scripture God tells us that He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. God may be big, but he cares about all the little details of our lives and makes them work together. I know from personal experience that trusting God with my life daily is the most important thing I can do. God deserves ALL the credit for my life - He made me, He helps me, and He cares about ALL of it.
Well Christy, if you trust God with every little thing in your life and assume that he is controling everything...why would you ever worry about anything..or make any plans..or try to get jobs...wouldn't you just assume that God would take care of everything?
Clearly then God has decided that it was the time to die for those 100 or more people on that Yemn aircraft and the time to live for that one survivor. So we should be pleased for those that died (because God made it happen) and pleased for the one that lived (because God made it happen). Why would you bother to wear a seat belt (cause God will determine what happens to you) or use contraceptives (because God will decide whether you become prgnant or not)...or even eat (because God will decide whether you live or die). If God deserves ALL the credit for your life then i guess he also deserves ALL the blame for everything that you don't like about it. If that holds true then he decides if you are sick or well..or if others are sick or well...so why would you pray to him to be better..or for others to ger better...of for Manda to feel better..or for Manda to get pregnant..or find a job. Heck just let God take care of everything.
Wouldn't it be more reasonable to belive that God wants each of us to live a responsible, independent, caring life, where we try to take care of ourselves and others.
Too many people waste far too much time praying for God to take care of them and not nearly enough time taking care of themselves and caring for those who can't take care of themselves.
We Pray becuase it is commanded that we do so. In Matthew 6:31, "So do not worry about tomorrow... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all this things will be given to you as well." and latter in Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened for you." and Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
We pray not so that God will know our needs, He already does. We pray to talk to our Father.
Below is a copy of the Radio Broadcast I was listening to recently that explains it much better than I Ever could
Copyright © 2006 by The Voice of Prophecy
P.O. Box 53055, Los Angeles, CA 90053
April 4, 2006
Lord, Teach Us to Pray #2
Is Prayer a Waste of Time?
Listen to Real Audio Broadcast
Do you have a particular need in your life, or are you dealing with a special problem? Well, who isn’t? Here’s good news. The Bible assures you that you can come boldly to God in prayer and simply ask Him for what you need. You don't have to cut deals or bargain with God. He's your Friend and heavenly Father, and He's able and even anxious to answer your prayers
But have you ever asked yourself the question, If God already knows what I need, then why do I even have to ask? God knows all about me. He doesn’t need for me to tell him what I need. Another thing, He’s the personification of all that is good. Why should I have to try to convince Him to do the right thing? If these things are true, then why do I need to pray?
The answer is, we need to pray because Jesus asks us to. He says, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For every one who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7, 8 NKJV)
The disciples noticed the importance of prayer in Jesus’ own life, so one day they asked Him to teach them to pray. He gave them what we call the Lord’s Prayer. You remember how it begins. "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." Then it continues: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9,10 KJV).
Now, hold on. Didn’t the other verse say that if we need something, we should just ask? That everyone who asks, receives? But the Lord’s Prayer seems to tell us that it doesn’t matter what we ask, God will do what He wants about it anyway.
That's like a father who promises his son that he'll give him whatever he wants for his birthday. So the son asks for a bicycle, but instead his father gives him a math book. Of course, in the long run the math book will be more useful to the boy than the bike. But somebody's going to be very disappointed on his birthday.
So back to the question, If God hears what I ask for but instead He gives me what He thinks is best, then why should I pray?
Think about the disappointed son for a moment, because that's how you and I feel sometimes, isn't it? I don’t always get what I ask God for. The boy’s problem isn't the math book. It’s a good math book. The boy’s problem isn’t the father. The father is wise to buy his son a math book. He knows that if his son will study and learn the principles of economics that book teaches, he'll soon be able to buy his own bicycle and anything else he wants. Then, what’s the problem? Why is the boy unhappy? He’s unhappy because he doesn’t trust his father’s judgment and because he wants what he wants, and he wants it NOW!
“Thy will be done” says I can tell God what I want but, like the son, I must be willing to accept what He decides is best for me.
So trust is an important ingredient in prayer. Another is faith.
One day Jesus was in a crowd of people who were pressing on Him from every side. In the crowd was a woman who had had a serious health problem for twelve years. The doctors were unable to help her. Then she saw Jesus, and, believing He could help her, she moved toward Him. So many people were around Jesus that all she could do was to reach out and touch His tunic. She couldn’t even speak with Him. But the Bible says Jesus realized she had touched His tunic, and He turned to her and said, “’My daughter, your faith has cured you.’ And from that moment the woman was healed” (Matthew 9:19-22 NEB).
Notice Jesus’ words to the woman, “. . . your faith has cured you.”
On another occasion, Jesus healed a soldier’s servant with the words, “Because of your faith, so let it be” (Matthew 8:13 NEB).
Later Jesus seems to have nailed down faith as an important condition for answered prayer when He told the disciples, “I tell you this: If only you have faith and have no doubts, …you need only say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted from your place and hurled into the sea,’ and what you say will be done. And whatever you pray for in faith you will receive (Matthew 21:21,22 NEB).
So, which is it? Are our prayers answered because God does what He wants whether we ask or not? Or are our prayers answered because we have faith?
At times the Bible may seem to present contradictions, but when rightly understood, they are not contradictions at all. A text that helps us to understand is a short verse found in Matthew 6:8 (NEB):
“Your Father knows what your needs are before you ask him.”
The key words in this verse are not “your needs” but they are the words “your Father,” of course referring to our heavenly Father.
The important thing to know when you pray to God is not what to ask for or even how to ask for it. The important thing to know is the Person you’re asking. You see, if you don't know God and what His will is, you might end up asking for things that are not good for you. And then, like in the story of the unhappy boy and his father, you would wonder why your prayers aren't answered.
Another important consideration when you ask God for something is found in Matthew 7:11. Here Jesus comments, “If you, then, bad as you are, know how to give your children what is good for them, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him” (NEB).
I hope you picked up on the words, “give good things”? Do you always ask for good things? Can you tell the difference between good things and bad things?
Have you been shopping for toys lately? If you have, you’ve no doubt noticed that not all the toys for sale could be classified as “good toys.” There’s some pretty worthless stuff out there, even harmful.
You can be sure that your heavenly Father gives only good gifts. James 1:17 says: “All good giving and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of the lights of heaven. With him there is no variation, no play of passing shadows” (NEB).
And here’s something that’s nice to know. Your heavenly Father gives you some gifts without your having to ask for them. And He gives these gifts not only to you but even to those who don’t love Him. Isn't He a wonderful God? For instance, “He makes His sun to rise on the evil person as well as on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45 NEB).
He's the One responsible for keeping your heart beating two-and-a-half billion times during your lifetime, pumping 250,000 gallons of blood through 100,000 miles of blood vessels. He’s the One who makes a carrot out of a carrot seed, and then, through the digestion processes, turns that carrot into nutrients that keep you alive. For these kinds of things you don’t need to ask. But you should give thanks, of course!
Learning the difference between good gifts and bad gifts is a process. It takes time. A young child has interests that are perfectly normal for his age. A little boy is into toy cars, baseball bats, sticks, and frogs. But when he is college age, let’s hope he takes on more mature interests. And so, as you learn more about God and His will, you’ll find that your requests to Him will mature and become more like His, until one day you discover that what you want is what God wants for you. You’ll happily choose the math book over the bicycle.
And as you know God better and better, you’ll understand that God always chooses to give you what is best for you—even if you ask for something else. You can see then that praying God’s will be done is really the best kind of prayer we could ever pray.
Then what will we do about what Jesus said about our requests being answered according to our faith? Some people expect faith to work like magic—say the words, close your eyes really tight, and Presto! The answer appears!
But that’s not really having faith in the biblical sense. Our prayers will be answered not because we have faith in faith, but because we have faith in God. What Jesus was saying to the woman who was healed was, Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith in Me has made you well, and to the centurion he was saying, As you have believed in Me, so it will be done unto you.
And the text about moving mountains is really saying, “Don’t worry. If you have faith in God, and don’t doubt, God will do whatever He needs to for your good, even if it means having to move mountains.
So, If God already knows what we need, why should we pray? The answer is so that, through the experience of prayer, we will learn to appreciate the things that our loving Heavenly Father wants us to have and that our hearts will be open to receive them.
Well as happy as I am that my blog has somehow become a forum for religious debate, I still feel upset at the Jay Jay person's comments. Upset and sad for whoever you are.
The reason we still make choices in this life is because those choices exist. Yes, God gave us free will. He gave us the ability and the right to choose what to eat, what to wear, how to act, to make whatever choice we decide to.
He did this so that when we choose to love him, that love is honest and true. So that everyone who comes to Jesus in humility and love does so freely and of their own free will.
Otherwise, what good would that love be?
Some religious fanatics do take the "God is in control" thing to the sick extreme. Saying they can do whatever horrible things they want to, cuz any awful consequences that come from their actions are obviously the "will of God". WRONG!
WE have choices. WE have responsibilities in this life.
However, if you have accepted Christ into your heart and soul and live for Him, you can be assured that despite the mistakes you make, God will work all things for good. This is called GRACE. And that's why grace is so amazing.
Sorry Amanda. I didn't mean to turn your Princess blog into a debate about religion. My initial intent had been to only provide some thoughts on how much God intervenesdirectly in our lives and how much God might want us to take our own responsibility. But even having some views on this seems to have worked a few of your readers into a bit of a religious frenzy...e.g. Lana
I don't mean to offend anyone as I realize everyone has somewhat diferent views about faith and religion. But based on all of the comments in response to my intial thoughts I assume that what you are saying is (in plain language):
1. God knows everything about everybody in the world, including what they are doing, what is happening to them and what they need and desire.
2. Even though God knows everything about us and what we want he still wants us to pray to him (or her) about what we want
3. despite what we want God knows what is best for us and will decide what to give us no matter what we think our needs and desires are
4. God will give good things and good outcomes not just to "good" people but to "evil" people as well, when he sees fit to do so
5. Similarly, God will give bad things not just to evil people but also to good people..again whenever he feels like it.
6. God gives us the ability to make choices in our lives and wants us to make "good" choices...but the actual choice makes no difference in the long run because God will decide what he is going to do to us regardless of the choices we make and regardless of the type of life we live
7. Whenever God's choices make no sense whatsoever..or even the very existence of God makes no sense we should just rely on faith that God is right and simply read our bible and pray some more (even though as noted earlier God already knows what we want and will arbitrarily decide what we get).
8. We will never fully understand all of God's choices for us because of course he is so much wiser than we are and has no intention of ever explaining his choices so that we can better understand them.
If I got that all right..or at least close to right then the question becomes if God simply does what he wants, when he wants, whether we have lived a good life or not then why would we waste our time with prayer...just get on with life and live it. (yes I know..the answer to that is that we get our ultimate reward in heaven but of course there is nobody to ever actually tell us that heaven exists...just more "faith".)
My own view is that we need to get on with life and try to reduce suffering wherever possible (even though God has made a choice to make these people suffer through poverty, illness, accidents, death or whatever, take care of people that are less able to care for themselves and if God choses to intervene in my life he will.
And I feel sad for thos eof you who are so bound up with praying to God and worrying about what God wants that you ignore your ability to help others and devote significant parts of your life to helping others. Clearly God is not doing it so it is up to us.
Jay Jay,
I find your comments very self-contradictory.
Your first comments seem to say you believe there either is no God, or He doesn't act in and upon people's lives. Yet your latest comment says "God has made a choice to make these people suffer". Which is it cuz you can't have it both ways. Either God IS active in our lives or He ISN'T. You can't claim to believe both.
And while I am aware I will be opening a whole new can of worms with this remark, you are completely ignoring the role the Devil plays in the world. You can't believe in God without believing in the Devil. So which one is responsible for the suffering? The loving God who wants the best for us, or the one being in the universe whose ONLY goal is our destruction and suffering?
I am also incredibly offended that you would claim to know so much about me as to state I do nothing in my life to help others. In case you don't know the two most important tenets of following Christ are:
1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind
2) Love OTHERS as Christ loves them (that means, love EVERYONE in word, action, and thought)
I will not lower myself to listing the ways I seek to help others, because it is NOT for my own glory I do it. It is to show others the love God has for them through me.
I love religious debates. I think it's how we can all learn and grow in our beliefs, regardless of what they are.
It is insulting, however, to debate with someone uneducated on the matter, who makes assumptions instead, and tries to pass it for fact.
Jay jay, I would recommend you look into the Christian faith more to equip yourself if you'd enjoy these types of conversations. I also think that you should seriously reconsider what you say and where if you "don't mean to offend anyone."
Amanda, your posts are inspiring to those who choose see past the "religion" for the beauty of God.
Wow..i tis amazing how offended some folks get simply as part of a discussion about religious beliefs and how quickly some folks turn to personal insults rather than reasonable debate (Erie..not a very Christian approach).
So first to Erie, I belive I am very educated about Christian beliefs..as well as other beliefs around the world..Muslim, Bhuddist and others. And I suspect that wjhile i may not be able to quote scripture from meory as well as you I probably am much more educated about religion than you are. So if you would like to participate in educated and respectful conversation you are more than welcome to do so.
To Amanda, I sincerely apologize for the misinterpretation of my comments that may somehow have implied that you personally do not do enough to help others. That was not at all what i was saying. my comment was not directed to you personally but rather to a larger group of folks who claim piety and fervent Christian beliefs and spend massive amount of time in prayer and in church, yet take no action to put into practice their so-called Christian beliefs. I am sure that you do much to support those in nee dof help and neither you nor I need list sucjh efforts.
Secondly Mandas, I think you have misinterpreted what i ahve been saying. I do not want to as you state "have it both ways" but it seems that you and others may like to have it both ways. What I am saying is there are really only a few options:
1. God follows our lives closely and intervenes in almost every aspect of our life makign every day choices in tyerms of what he sees as in our or his best interests.
2. God gives us independenc of choice in many things, trying to guide us toward so-called good or right choices, but does not intervene and allows us to make mistakes and allows random acts of deaht, illness and suffering without intervening.
3. There is no God at all and eveything is just random happening.
You have intorduced the concept of the devil and the role he plays in our lives. Unfortunately while the devil is an easy explanation for some of those things that we can't explain or don't understand in terms of God's apparent lack of compassion ansd willingness to impose suffering, it does raise a few aditional questions, including:
1. If God is all-powerful why doesn't he simply get rid of the devil or "intervene" and rectify the pain and suffering caused by the devil?
2. If God is not powerful enough to intervene, or chooses not to intervene and alleviate the pain and suffering caused by the devil, what is the point in praying to him....because then obviously we need to challenge and resist the devil's temptations on our own.
When millions of people die or are left incredibly ill and suffering due to illnesses such as AIDs, from famine and poverty, from wars, or natural disasters is it because:
1. The devil has caused it and God is powerless or unwilling to intervene (So why pary for good things to happen)
2. God has caused it because he works in mysterious ways that we will never understand, including apparnet cruel and heartless actions. (so why bother praying for good things to happen)
3. It is just random acts of life or caused by man and God choses to not intervene in our lives but rather to let us live independent of his interbentions. (so why bother praying for good things to happen)
4. There is no God (so there is nobody to pray to)
3.
To JayJay,
There is an author on apologetics and religion who can answer every question you've just asked. His name is Dr. Ron Rhodes, and he is a worldwide leading expert on questions such as, "Why do bad things happen if God is good?" and, "If the devil exists, why doesn't God just destroy him?" If you go to the article: http://ldolphin.org/evil.html it will explain a lot of those questions that you have just posed. And Ron has written many books, one of which is titled, "Why do bad things happen if God is good?" That's going to be a great resource for your questions.
And just to comment on your statement to Erie as not approaching you in a "Christian" way... First off, that was an unneccesary comment probably written just to make you feel better. Jesus spent His life on earth making sure people knew the truth. There's nothing in the Bible that says Christians shouldn't fight for what they believe in! And second, I agree with her. From reading your responses, I have noticed that you still do have quite a lot of questions on basic Christian fundamentals.
I also think that somehow in this discussion, we're all missing the point. Jesus came to this world to END religion. He came so that we can have a personal relationship with the God who made us. The reason we pray is not to influence God to make our lives change, but to talk with and hear from the One that created us. God is SO in love with us. Could you imagine being desperately in love with someone who didn't talk to you? What about if you wrote them love letters and they were never read? This is how God feels when we don't talk to Him (prayer) and read His love letters (the Bible). God doesn't care if we know the answer to every theological question. He looks at our hearts, and loves them no matter what shape they're in.
So ask God for the answers. He can tell you, just read his love letter that was written just for you.
Perhaps I should have just posted the link to the topic of Prayer, however, it was something that I had been listening to just as I was reading Manada's Blog, and couldn't help but share because I believe the explanation is a good one.(I just didn't realize that it was sooo long)
JayJay, I truly believe that we have all been individually blessed with many different gifts as well as free will. My refusal to take up my cross and follow God, does not make it a lack of Love on His part. Just as there are consequences for not obeying the laws of the land, there are consequences for not obeying the laws of God.
When you throw a stone into the water, it ripples outwards, and touches water that was never immediately connected to the initial drop site. Unfortunately Aids, is a ripple down of disobedience to God by 1 person.
May the Lord bless you and give you the answers that you seek in Him.
Christy, Thanks for your reference, I am going to have to do some reading I think, I haven't really given some of these questions much thought.
Erie, I think you are right, debate causes us to go back and examine our own beliefs and check our foundations.
So Christy, i did indeed take you up on your offer and read some material by Dr. Rhodes. Unfortunately while he claims at the beginning of his materials to answer (or at least provide answers developed by others) to some of thos eparticularly difficult questions about God and his involvement in our lives, there really were no answers that negated the points I have already raised.
Based on Dr. Rhodes writings God is indeed all-powerful but choses to not exercise that power in terms of ridding the earth of evil. The calim is that if he did thent here would also be no people left on earth because we all have "evil natural" as an inherent part of our personalities (which since we were created in God's likeness and by God, that very existence of evil is clearly a choice that is made by God.
It also seems based on dr. rhodes writings that all disaters, suffering, etc. are there because God wants them to be there...incl;uding earthquakes, floods, disease, etc. and that God allows them to contine as "punishment" to mankind for disobeying his commands. This concept of a punitive God is quite prevalent, including even in your blog writings Amanda...where you recently staed that God had "disciplined" you for some shortcomings you had as a person.
Unfortunately this concept of a punitive God who is willing to call down great suffering even upon innocent children is hardly in keeping with a kind, lovine and benevolent God. Even the "demands" of God that we pray to him seem almost spiteful..in the fact that if we don't pray and cower to him he will be upset and bring bad events upon our lives.
Christy, you said "God is SO in love with us. Could you imagine being desperately in love with someone who didn't talk to you? What about if you wrote them love letters and they were never read? This is how God feels when we don't talk to Him (prayer) and read His love letters (the Bible)." But if God is SO IN LOVE with people why would he bring such incredible suffering to people. Would you bring horrendous suffering onto your spouse or child simply because they disobeyed you? And if God feels rejected if we don't pray to him and cower at his feet imagine how people feel when God ignores their prayers..ignores their conversations. Why is it just a one way street.
Indeed it seems that God is a very jealous, spiteful, heartless and punitive and if he were to exist on earth, even an abusive God.
Based on my overall readings it seems that there are only two theories about God today...determinism and randomness. Determinism says that here is an intent or meaning to everything that happens int he world..a plan set out by a suprior entity (God). Randomness says that everythign that happens is only a random series of events with no predetrmined plan or structure (including the crweation of the earth). Randomness is of course very hard for people to accept..because it implies that there is nothing else...just their own will, hardwork, commitment and ultimately random luck that detrmines what happens in our lives. having a God gives us a crutch that allows us to hope that someone will rescue us from bad times, protect us from bad people and that there will somehow be something better (heaven) when we die. (though strangely enough nobody ever comes back from heaven to tell us how wonderful it is)
Finally Chrysty you talked about God's love letter to us (the Bible) and how reading it gives us answers and comfort. Yet you ignore the fact that the Bible is not God's letter, but rather a series of letters from normal humans like you and I about God. It can have no more authenticity than if I sat down, claimed to have been spoken to by God, and then wrote a new bible. Why would you belive me..thus why would you believe Simon, Paul or nayone esle who has contributed "letters: to the Bible?
Anyhow, i have probably rambled on long enough about this. And Mand I hope your discipline from God was not too harsh...I am sure that you couldn't have been too evil (other than thinking that i am an asshole...right?)
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