Nothing Fails Like Prayer.

Ah, prayer... a mystical magical thing bringing to mind gods, and actions, and interventions. People receiving their answer; gods being influenced by the worship and lip service, the natural course of the present being changed by the demands of a believer, all evidence that the magic opf prayer works..

But in all reality, the truth is something different. Prayer is not answered, for all we know it is not heard, and the course of the present is unaltered. The people have not received an answer but, they will say then that it was an answer but, not the answer they wished for.

Prayer is an integral part of the Christian religion. We are encouraged to pray to god for guidance, for wisdom, for patience, for the answer to our problems, for the proper course of our life and much more. We are to pray to Jesus and ask him to save us, the sinners' prayer. Whenever we are down, or we have problems, we are told to give it to god in prayer. We are told god will answer our prayers. We are also told the give prayers of thanks giving and appreciation to god for all he has done for us. The bible says the same thing as well.

When we read the bible we are told that if we have faith in Jesus, the prayers will be answered. Reading the following verses we see this:

Matthew 21:22-And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

Matthew 7:7-8-7 Ask and it will be given you: seek and you will find: knock and it will be opened for you 8 for every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Mark 11:23-24 - 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea," and not doubt in his heart, but believes what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him 24 Therefore I tell you whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received, and it will be yours.

John 11:40-Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you had faith you will see the glory of God?"

John 14:13-Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the father may be glorified in the son.

Now when we read these verses, we see that it will be done, or given. "You will receive," not "maybe I will do it." This is indeed a problem for those who would say that sometimes god does not answer prayer. "Sometimes I say no," this answer is almost a canned response from the believer when their prayer is not answered. The bible says different, and the believers sometimes may wish that it was just not so.

Millions of prayers are never answered; millions of people continue to hope in vain that they will be. For every prayer that is supposedly answered we can safely assume there are thousands, if not millions that go unanswered. In fact, almost everyone has a prayer that was never answered. I know I have, and I know many people who has had unanswered prayers as well. Although the simple statement from me is enough to show god does not answer prayer.

I would think that millions of Jews prayed non-stop to be spared from the agony of Hitler and the concentration camps. Maybe since they did not ask this prayer in the name of Jesus they were not answered? But that would matter little, since some of the survivors of this terrible thing would claim that god did indeed answer their prayers. So it would lead me to believe that god plays favorites to a degree. He answers some people's prayers, and not all peoples. But if god were all-powerful as the Christians claimed, then it would follow that he could answer ALL PRAYERS PERIOD.

We can see that not all prayers are answered, although according to the bible it matters little who prays for what, as long as they believe. At least that is what the bible says. But let us ask this question what kind of prayers, do in fact, get answered?

James 5:17-18-Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that is might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on earth,. 18 Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

2 Kings 2:23-24-23 He (Elisha) went up to from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying "Go away bald head, go away baldhead!" 24 When he turned around and saw them , he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

Joshua 10:12-13-12 Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the men of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun stand thou still at Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Aijalon." 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the book Jashar? The sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

1Ch 4:10 And Jabez calleth to the God of Israel, saying, `If blessing Thou dost bless me, then Thou hast made great my border, and Thy hand hath been with me, and Thou hast kept me from evil--not to grieve me;' and God bringeth in that which he asked.

As we can see from the above, god answers the strangest requests, and seems to ignore the more reasonable ones. No rain and then rain, she-bears ripping up some small boys, the earth stopping its rotation long enough to allow more day light to kill and then riches just for the sake of riches. No wonder the other more earnest reasonable prayers get no answer. They are not weird enough. If it is not a mountain floating over to the sea or Jupiter crashing into Mars for the greatest fire work show of all time, forget it. Maybe if one was to ask god for the next windows like monopoly for his computer program, that would go over better than a person seriously praying for a cure for cancer, or the worlds woes who knows?

Again, prayers bring to mind gods magic and change, answers and wishes granted. The bible claims that prayer is answered, Jesus says as much, the bible even shows what prayers do get answered. But in all reality, nothings fails like prayer.

Me personally, I think one pair of helping hands is way better than a million pairs of praying hands.

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