Steve Heyes.co.uk

Something that keeps rearing its head over and over again in various conversations is this idea of how to seek God it times of decision and direction. After conversations with Joel, we narrowed it down to two trains of thought.

The first thought is to pray to God and wait for an answer. This may be in a sign, an audible voice, a Bible verse, an angel or some other supernatural way. Jesus used to go and spent time praying to God about things to come.

On the other hand, there is the philosophy of trying the doors and see what happens. Take the initiative and  take action. Make your actions your prayers as you investigate what Gods plan for you is. God told Moses to do this when the Exodus took place.

So both ideas are biblical. I guess my question is simple: How does this work in practice? How long to wait for God to speak before we start to take action? Do just skip that part because it doesn’t usually happen?

I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

…just gotta keep hoping and praying.

Some body said this to me the other day about my exams. As you may have picked up, I did not do very well on my exams. Hopefully, my coursework will be able to pull me out of the rut I have dug myself!

I don’t get prayer. Not at all. I know its a ‘conversation’ with God, but its a pretty boring one. It seems one way. Maybe its more of a metaphor; saying prayer is like a conversation. A conversation suggests dialogue. Person A says one thing in which Person B replies. This doesn’t seem to happen much with God. I pray, he answers, but not in a conversational way, but an active way. Thats why I don’t like to think of it as a ‘conversation’.

So what is prayer? How should we pray? I’ve been told its important, even preached on it, but I don’t get the logistics of it. For example when we pray “that Person C will become a Christian” is that a valid prayer? We are asking that God intervenes so that they become a Christian, is this infringing on their free will? “I pray that Person C follows you” Is that not saying, I hope they change their minds and follow you. Should we pray these prayers?

And how about with exams? Should we pray that we get good marks? That the examiner will go easy with the marking? Is there any point praying for something after it has happened or is it too late? Why does praying more (in time and number of people) make a difference?

I haven’t really read up on prayer in the Bible so I probably should go to do so, however I still want to ask you “What is prayer?” I’d like to hear your views.