Please Pray...

My family and I would really appreciate your prayers as we deal with some recent news about my Grandpa on my dad's side. It's rather ironic since dad actually called him up and talked to him today, but then at about 7:00pm we received a call that my grandad had had a stroke not a few hours after he hung up the phone from talking to my dad. He had then fallen and hit his head on a counter and went into a coma. My Aunt and Uncle out there then took him to the local hospital where they said that he needed an emergency flight to a larger and better hospital in Cleveland (he was orininally in Amherst). When there, he was further inspected and when the doctor aproached my Aunt and Uncle, he said that my grandad was in a vegetative state and that there was nothing they could do. So, he'll be like a vegetable for the rest of his life unless a miracle happens. Since this all happened in one day, you can imagine how my grandma and our other family out there are taking it. Neither of my grandparents is a Believer, so this is especially coming down hard on my dad's mom... We are now very sure that dad will be flying to Cleveland as soon as he can. Possibly the in the next few days. It's been a shock to my dad, and he's pretty sad, so we'd appreciate prayers for him and all the rest involved.

I had to type this rather fast, so if ya'll could ignore errors, that'd be great... :)

Some Thoughts on Prayer

First of all, I must assume for a charitable moment, that those who read this have placed faith in the scriptural doctrine of predestination, rather than that of free will. For the Armenian, in contradiction to my discombobulating pertaining to the matter of prayer, would, according to his belief system, make the said matter seem easy to grasp and of little rational consequence.

Here’s a hypothetical problem: Sarah has, for some time, been desiring greatly to relocate herself for a few days to a famous beauty salon in San Francisco. Finally, she decides to pray about it. Now, according to predestination, God has already planned whether or not Sarah will spend time in the said salon. So, what’s the use of Sarah’s prayers? Since God’s will is immutable and cannot be changed no matter how much she cries? “Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.” (Jer. 15:1) Sorry I don’t have time to bring up more examples… So now let’s say that God’s plan was that Sarah should go to the beauty salon and she prepares to leave.

So why should we pray? Well, first of all, we are commanded to do so in the New Testament. So why are we commanded to do so if it seems perfectly useless? As I see it, there are several reasons: It brings honor and glory to God, which should be our main purpose in everything we do. Secondly, it is refreshing for us to lay troubles and joys before the Lord. It helps us grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Third, as A.W. Pink puts it, “Prayer is appointed by God for our seeking from Him the things which we are in need of.” This again brings up the question, “But if God has already ordained the outcome, what’ the use of seeking otherwise even in ignorance? Again, it is because He is brought honor and glory by our doing so. It is praise for Him to receive proof of our state of helplessness through prayer.

Here’s another quote from Pink: “Here then is the design of prayer: not that God’s will may be altered, but that it may be accomplished in His own good time and way. It is because God has promised certain things, that we can ask for them with the full assurance of faith.” What a great summary.

Well, I wish I had time to say more… Anybody is welcome to post thoughts or comments, but I would ask that those of you who are in disagreement about the predestination issue, keep from starting a debate. I’m debating with too many people as it is on the matter elsewhere. For a much better and longer explanation, I highly recommend A.W. Pink’s book, “The Sovereignty of God”.