Excellent.
I wish all could read this over and over again to appreciate the full import of this message.However, I fear they will not, because your suggestions call for much critical thinking, introspection and responsibilty on th part of the faithful. To my fellow Homo Religiousus Nigeriana, to be faithful ,means to be totally beholden to the Daddy-please-comeback syndrome. They mistake fear and insecurity for faith. Like you hinted, a truly faithfull person does not need to pray because he or she has already aligned himself with the nous or cosmic frequency. having done so, the material needs become less signicant to the grander scheme of the universe.
You can agree with me that the abundance of prayer houses on every street in our land does not signify an abundance of faith, but a complete lack of it. It clearly demonstrates the pathetic state of our fragmented and confused minds .

mazaje:

What are the proofs? Is there any evidence to show that christians that pray for protection from harm and misfortune are better protected from harm and misfortune than non christians that do not pray? Any evidence to show that christians that pray for healing from sickness recover faster than those that do not?. . . .What exactly are the evidence? If prayers truly work we WON'T be having this conversation. . . .

Go to church and hear testimonies of Divine Intervention, unbelieving mesaje.

Image123:

Go to church and hear testimonies of Divine Intervention, unbelieving mesaje.

Sorry to burst your bubble. Such testimonies are crap. I dont pray and good things happen to me from time time. Is that a sign that god answers my prayers that I do not even ask?
be realistic my friend, on any given period there equal chances of good things as well as bad things happening to you. Is it not so. And ask yourself, how come people only come to church to give testimony of the good things that happen to them? What about those that suffer misfortunes in the same period, who do they have to thank or blame for their misfortunes? If 20 people gave great testimonies of their good fortune in your church today, what about the hundreds of other church memebers who did not?
Its like spending your earnings playing lottery or pool for a long time and one day the odds come in your favour and you win a small amount. Would your winnings validate your habit and justify all your previous losses?
Like I said previously and repeating again , its always a win-win situation for god and his many salesmen. Good things happens , we run to pastor to give thanks(and money), bad things happen, we run to pastor to pray harder(and sow monetary seeds).

^
Save your breath, my post was addressed ithink? If you don't have difficulties with retention and comprehension, you'd have noticed that i've mentioned cause and effect, sowing and reaping and co. And then Divine Intervention. If you don't believe in that, your qualms. I very much doubt you believe in the existence of satan, or of God, or on the reliability of the Bible. Abeg o, abeg, don't hijack my motive of contributing on the thread.

Why do we Christians have to argue with the atheists?
These guys were formerly religious and nothing we say will change them.

Best we can do is hope that someday they see the light themselves.

@atheists,
BTW what do you guys fill under the column religion, when filling forms?
I bet you're ashamed to write atheist and end up writing Christian.

@ topic

just remembering some prayers i've prayed in the past, which werent answered, and I'm now THANKING GOD for not answering them.

phew, <<wipes brow>>  just makes me break out in a sweat even thinking about it.

we indeed only know in part, and in time will understand fully.

seeing darkly through a mirror.

yorubas say t'oloun ba nse rere a lo nse'ka.

lord have mercy sha.

sometimes we do pray in ignorance.

not saying one shouldnt pray however, but just reflecting on the topic.

if a prayer goes unanswered, then it could be a pointer about something.

I will be deceiving myself to say that God doesn't answer prayer. Infact, i will be a fool to deny the wonder working power of God. I prayed for a job, good wife,children and the Lord answered, but the problem we have is that God doesn't think as we think. For example, i have been praying for a wife from God, but it took me almost 8yrs befor God finally answer, there was a time i gave up. So, when it comes to answering of prayers, DIVINE TIMING is paramount above every other thing. God makes everything beautiful in his own time. Not your time. We have also forgotten the fact that man is contending with invisible power of darkness. They are there. Not for fun. They are there to hinder the work of God in your life. If you do not do anything to resist them, they will steal, kill, and destroy your answers to your prayers. Read ephesians 6: 1-end. Also, your channel of prayer could be blocked, if you are disobedient to the law of sowing and reaping. If your heavens are closed as a result of not giving your money to honour God(tithe,first fruit offering, caring for the needy, distributing gifts,cash to the need of the saints) then your prayer may be unanswered. God2man.

Deep rooted problem require deep prayer, waiting, diving timing, fasting, dedication to the sevice of God, sacrificial giving, living a holy life, lastly working on divine revelation from God. Prayer is a two way communication, very interesting, you speak to God, God speaks back to you. When God speak to us, God speaks to us in our dream according to Job 33:14-18. I mean our night dream, although GOD speaks to us in diverse ways. The most common is night dream. It may not have meaning but it is saying something. The more you pray, the more divine dream you see, the more you discover the mystery of life. Moreover, the period of unanswered prayer is to make us a better christian, to humble us, to correct us, to draw us closer to God. Remember,no cross,no crown. If you are trying to bribe your way out of problem, you make be preparing to end up in hell. God2man. God bless you.

Casting ALL your cares upon Him(God) for He cares for you.

@image123;
I pointed out some common sense flaws in ur argument and I expected your rebuttal but you tactfully dodged and decided to attack my motives. My beliefs are irrelevant to you. Typical. Its a bad habit to ignore the points raised and attack the person.Sign of weakness.
Dont be afraid, No one is here to convert anyone.We are just having healthy debates. ABI? It does not not always have to be about converting any one.
@bluedive: Its quites a shame that only in primitive societies are people still required to indicate their religion on official forms. Yes , I fill in christian or none when possible. So what? why Is that funny to you.? See what religion is doing to your country. Bravo. You must very proud.

^
i'm not only weak, i'm dead.

When God doesn't answer your prayers, build up your faith, He will.

When God doesn't answer your prayers, pray harder. Maybe he misheard the first time. Someone prayed for rain and got fire. I really hope such a person keeps praying hard.

^so someone prayed for rain and got fire. What do you think, was it God that sent the fire?

m_nwankwo:

Hi JeSoul. Thanks for your question. I offer my perception as follows. God endowed each spirit with the ability to gain connection with his power. That ability is a faculty that is an integral part of the spirit. That already presupposes that it is the spirit that prays, not the brain, the mind and not the various other non-spirtual cloaks that envelops the spirit. A spirit does not pray with words or even with thoughts. Words, and thoughts at best should give an earthly direction to the voilition of the spirit especially since most people are not yet accustomed to allowing their spirits to pray without words and thoughts. Now the volition of the spirit sets the spirit aglow and the nature of that voilition gives the glow or energy waves radiating from the spirit definite color and sound. The powers of God that vibrates in creation also have definite color and sound and via the process of homogeneity between the emanations of the spirit and the powers of God, you then get a union of the spirtual voiltion with the specific power of God. This union alters the sound and color in the uniting elements permitting it to rise higher and higher via further union of radiations until it gets to the realm or plane where an answer will be given. Thus the union of these radiations form a flight of steps to the region from which help or answer to a prayer is given. Again the help or answer is mediated to the praying spirit through  these flight of steps. There are other secondly happenings but it may cause confusion as a lot of pre-explanation are needed and so I will not include it here.

Only an emanation from the spirit that is imbued with love, purity and faith makes this contact with the power of God as I explained above. Thus most prayers do not go beyond the personal aura of those praying because they lack love, purity and faith. Since most of us find it difficult to open our spirit, then most of our prayers do not emanate from the spirit but from the brain and mind and such prayers are worthless. Only psychic shocks like deep sorrow or deep joy can occasionally and spontaneously inhibit the suffocating influence of the the brain and mind, allowing the spirit to gain connection with God and thus really pray. Had we developed the way God wanted us to, then we can perpetually be in connection with the power of God without need of psychic shocks. Rightly understood, people should only pray when there is an overwhelming desire to do, only then has it a chance of gaining connection with God. To pray routinely out of habit is not just a waste of time but an evidence that such a person is yet to sense even to the minutest degree the holiness of God. To be permitted a connection with God is the highest blessing that can befall us and thus we must approach the throne of God with love, purity and faith. If we do not, then this solemn moment of prayer that is and meant to be an elixir for our spiritual development and maturity will become a dishonor to God. Thus instead of connecting us to God, such non genuine prayer forms a gulf which with time may become insurmountable allowing us to wallow in ignorance and sin.

A genuine prayer is a communion with God or to be more specific a communion with the power of God. Such communion even for a few seconds gives the spirit an inner joy that cannot be expressed in earthly words. It also imbues the spirit with the indescribable conviction of being under the sacred protection and guidance of God. It imprints in the spirit the overwhelming desire to only live according to the will of God. Strangely, the more a man get attuned to this type of genuine prayer, the more earthly desires fall away. The more the innumerable lists of what he want God to do for him diminishes and finally dries up for such a man stands in the power of God and whatever his spirit needs or his body needs, the laws of God will bring it to him without effort. Thus strange as it may sound he has nothing to ask for the blessings from God will be overwhelming that he can only utter thanks, thanks and thanks to God. Instead of prayers of supplication, prayers of thanks giving  will become the norm in his life. Being on earth, and the fact that such a man is not yet completely transformed, trials and temptation will come but the power of God to which he has attuned himself will help him to confront and overcome even the most difficult of earthly circumstances. Calmly and coolly, he or she faces all earthly trials with gratitude to God irrespective of whether these earthly experiences bring him joy or sorrow.

Now to your question. I only pray for guidance from God and for the strength to only live according to the will of God. On some occasions, I can hear from my guides to send up prayer for this or that person (they can be family members, strangers or even people who are no more in the flesh). In that case I open my spirit and ask God to mediate his power to those that are in need. When I am also confronted with events, things or issues which I am not sure what is the will of God, I also open my spirit to God and receive guidance what to do and not do. My intuitive prayer can be captured in earthly words as "Oh God, the creator of all the worlds, be though with me, Amen". Stay blessed.

The above is just wonderful!!!! The third paragraph is unbelievably deep. Those words could only have been passed down from above; they are definitely not products of the brain.

They resonate in me like melodies from above, richly edifing my spirit.

M_nwankwo may the ALMIGHTY grant you ever more strength to draw from above.

justcool:

The above is just wonderful!!!! The third paragraph is unbelievably deep. Those words could only have been passed down from above; they are definitely not products of the brain.

They resonate in me like melodies from above, richly edifing my spirit.

M_nwankwo may the ALMIGHTY grant you ever more strength to draw from above.

Hi Justcool. Thank you for your kind words and prayer. I wish you strength. Stay blessed

@bluediva, In response to your question regarding atheists, I either leave the column blank or fill "christian" in the worst case scenario. It's not something I'm ashamed about rather it's the backward mentality of people like yourself that make me ashamed. Religion is more or less regarded as a cult whereby you are either with them or you are labelled as an enemy (just like the crips and bloods, and Vikings,Christians and Moslems). We that have no stake in whatever they believe in are the ones they try to use as scapegoats. When we show them how reetarded and dumb religion really is, the same hypocrites turn around to accuse us of attempting to "convert" them. With all the churches and prayers, Nigeria remains retrogressive. Things are moving from bad to worse "progressively" and all we keep doing is to pray harder and harder like demented forsaken souls. We remain wicked and callous to ourselves. The most dubious and spiteful people I know are ALL "god fearing" people. Our thieving politicians,419 pastors and armed officers who kill innocent people at the drop of a pin are ALL "god fearing" people. The married men and women who patronise hotels with other people's spouses/partners are ALL "god fearing" people. My suit wearing born again neighbour who bangs a different chick from church every sunday is a "god fearing" man. The business partners who have either cheated or ripped off my hard earned money in business deals are ALL "god fearing" people who can't utter 3 sentences without calling "god,god,god". Who is decieving who? The crass hypocrisy of religious people knows no bounds. Y'all make me sick with disgust.

harakiri:

@bluediva, In response to your question regarding atheists, I either leave the column blank or fill "christian" in the worst case scenario. It's not something I'm ashamed about rather it's the backward mentality of people like yourself that make me ashamed. Religion is more or less regarded as a cult whereby you are either with them or you are labelled as an enemy (just like the crips and bloods, and Vikings,Christians and Moslems). We that have no stake in whatever they believe in are the ones they try to use as scapegoats. When we show them how reetarded and dumb religion really is, the same hypocrites turn around to accuse us of attempting to "convert" them. [b]With all the churches and prayers, Nigeria remains retrogressive. Things are moving from bad to worse "progressively" and all we keep doing is to pray harder and harder like demented forsaken souls. We remain wicked and callous to ourselves. The most dubious and spiteful people I know are ALL "god fearing" people. Our thieving politicians,419 pastors and armed officers who kill innocent people at the drop of a pin are ALL "god fearing" people. The married men and women who patronise hotels with other people's spouses/partners are ALL "god fearing" people. My suit wearing born again neighbour who bangs a different chick from church every sunday is a "god fearing" man. The business partners who have either cheated or ripped off my hard earned money in business deals are ALL "god fearing" people who can't utter 3 sentences without calling "god,god,god". Who is decieving who? The crass hypocrisy of religious people knows no bounds. Y'all make me sick with disgust.

[/b]

This is a valid and worrisome observation. Sometimes I wonder, has religion really achieved its intended purpose?

Pukkah:

[/b]

This is a valid and worrisome observation. Sometimes I wonder, has religion really achieved its intended purpose?

It had been foretold in days or yore - nothing strange there, JESUS himself said so. why am i not surprised

@claremont, It's quite sad ain't it? Sometimes I feel sorry for them, most times I don't.

God does answer prayers. I know that for a fact. He has answered and done for me EVERY single thing I have asked in prayer over the last one year with the exception of one. This particular matter I have been praying about for exactly 1 year too. About six months ago, I got discouraged and a bit impatient about it and started confessing that God did not want it to happen, and now that negative confession has been manifesting seriously in the last month! Now I have gone back on my knees to claim back and re-confess what God actually told me about it! My peace is back on the matter is back and I know it is settled even though it's all like an earthquake right now!

God answers our prayers of faith!

true.

seyibrown:

God does answer prayers. I know that for a fact. He has answered and done for me EVERY single thing I have asked in prayer over the last one year with the exception of one. This particular matter I have been praying about for exactly 1 year too. About six months ago, I got discouraged and a bit impatient about it and started confessing that God did not want it to happen, and now that negative confession has been manifesting seriously in the last month! Now I have gone back on my knees to claim back and re-confess what God actually told me about it! My peace is back on the matter is back and I know it is settled even though it's all like an earthquake right now!

God answers our prayers of faith!

You know we can test this. Are you ready?

Image123:

^so someone prayed for rain and got fire. What do you think, was it God that sent the fire?

I don't know you tell me. One thing is for sure though he really didn't want to send the rain.

Op, when it seems to us that God hasnt answered our prayers. The best we can do for ourselves is to love him more, hold onto him, and ask him for his grace to scale through, cos it is always a difficult time. We should also know that the mysteries of our life is history unto him, so we have to follow him no mater what. We should also not neglect counseling from pastors and other christians, cos this will help you and encourage you to move on.

No mata wat, i believe deeply in ma heart that GOD HAS AND WILL NEVER FAIL. AND HE HAS AND WILL NEVER CHANGE

I love GOD

@seyibrown:
You waited 1 year to get your prayers answered? That is laughable. I could done better playing kalukalu. I would have had a better chance of having my desires fullfilled inthat same time. Why wont you just say that it took 1 yr for the odds to work in your favour regarding whatever it was you were yearning for.? Someone else who may have had the same desire as you did, would have eqaully had the same chances of fullfilment without recourse to prayer.

From what most of the faithful have posted so far, one discernable fact is very clear: THERE IS NO CLEAR CUT FORMULA for having our prayers answered. Right? That is why we have ordinary prayers ,and special prayers, night vigils, fasting, seed sowing(LOL), etc. All vain and futile attempts to circumvent the immutable laws of cause and effect.
Even for the most devout, just try your luck and keep trying. If something good happens to you in the interim, then "Hurray", you give god the credit.

God does not answer any prayers. If so, for all our prayers,don't you think that Nigeria would be a paradise for every faithful by now? If god answers prayers, who deserves to starve, suffer illness, and death? All the unpraying athiest should have all suffered misfortunes and died off long ago. Our hospitals should be filled with the unfaithfuls. Not so?

Out of habit, we just give god credit for whatever good things that happen in our lives , and conveniently, we have poor devil to blame for all our woes.
I have no doubts though, that prayers have many psychological benefits for those who that do it.
However, the root of all human suffering lies in the agony of unfulfilled desires.

^^^^

There are prayer requests which their answers manifest almost instantly. There are those that manifest in a little time, and those that will manifest in the future.

On this particular matter I prayed on, It was going to take time, and how long I didn't know. I got impatient because I didn't see it done quick enough and started confessing the negative. When I STARTED CONFESSING THE NEGATIVE, THE NEGATIVE MANIFESTED IN TIME. All I had to do was hold on to what God said and wait for the positive to manifest! The matter I am referring to is not a matter of chance or kalokalo! It is a very important part of my life! It is something I asked God to give me when I was around 10 years old that God gave to me and the Devil wants to take it away. The original prayer manifested in 13 years from when it was prayed. The Devil has been trying to take it away some 16 months before it manifested but holding on to God helped me keep it. The Devil showed his hand again 3 years after the manifestation of the promise, and I took the matter to God but got impatient because the manifestation of his answer wasn't quick enough to me! My impatience and confession of the negative gave the Devil ground to manifest the negative!

Prayers of faith DO get answered! The formula is FERVENT PRAYER OF FAITH IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WILL OF GOD!

@seyibrown:
You waited 1 year to get your prayers answered? That is laughable. I  could have done better playing kalukalu. I would have had a better chance of having my desires fullfilled in that same time. Why wont you just say that it took 1 yr for the odds to work in your favour regarding whatever it was you were yearning for.? Someone else ,who may have had the same desire as you did, would have equally had the same chances of fullfilment without recourse to prayer. Do you agree?

From what most of the faithful have posted so far, one discernable fact is very clear: THERE IS NO CLEAR CUT FORMULA for having our prayers answered. Right? That is why we have ordinary prayers ,and special prayers, night vigils, fasting, seed sowing(LOL), etc. All vain and futile attempts to circumvent the immutable laws of cause and effect.
Even for the most devout,  just try your luck and keep trying. If something good happens to you in the interim, then "Hurray", you give  god the credit.

God does not answer any prayers. If so, for all our prayers,don't you think that Nigeria would be a paradise for every faithful by now? If god answers prayers, who deserves to starve, suffer illness, and death? All the unpraying athiest should have all suffered misfortunes and died off long ago. Our hospitals should be filled with the unfaithfuls. Not so?

Out of habit, we just give god credit for whatever good things that happen in our lives , and conveniently, we have the poor devil to blame for all our woes.
I have no doubts though, that prayers have many psychological benefits for those that do it.
However, the root of all human suffering lies in the agony of unfullfilled desires.