Prayer For Progressive Christians

[ada]

I like your list.

 

However, certainly God plays favourites, I think that is evident. However, I think we ought not to think that our idea of favourite would be the same as his.

 

I remember hearing once, 'if you want to know what God thinks of great riches, look at the kind of people he gives them to.' Conversely, those most 'blessed' by God are not going to be those that we would recognise as privileged in worldly terms. They might have disabilities, or poverty, or great losses to cope with.

 

The Bible says that God refines those he loves as in a fire, in order to burn away our impurities and leave us as pure gold. That kind of favouritism I think we can all do without, but some of us don't really get much choice.

 

 

I certainly respect your view, and I can see it from that perspective

 

To clarify... I think that those who follow God do reap the greatest rewards, but it is not as a result of God playing favorites and bestowing more gifts upon believers than non. It is a result of our choice to do the right thing in the first place. Obviously if you choose to walk off a cliff, you aren't going to get anything positive out of that... if you choose to take the bridge, you have a much better life ahead of you. That's not really a favorites-system, that's a choice that humanity has been given.

 

I don't believe God "gives" things to believers, but instead we open ourselves up to the gifts already present in His way by choosing to follow it.

 

Sorry, I'm not debating, again I can see your point of view and I understand it because I do have a firm grasp on different views in Christianity (seven years on a Christian forum, I think I've seen it all ) -- I just wanted to clarify my point incase I left some things out.

 

I really do believe life boils down to human action and choice most of the time, that will probably be found in my views quite often

 

Thanks for responding to what I wrote <3

[Anglocatholic]

I certainly respect your view, and I can see it from that perspective

 

To clarify... I think that those who follow God do reap the greatest rewards, but it is not as a result of God playing favorites and bestowing more gifts upon believers than non. It is a result of our choice to do the right thing in the first place. Obviously if you choose to walk off a cliff, you aren't going to get anything positive out of that... if you choose to take the bridge, you have a much better life ahead of you. That's not really a favorites-system, that's a choice that humanity has been given.

 

I don't believe God "gives" things to believers, but instead we open ourselves up to the gifts already present in His way by choosing to follow it.

 

Sorry, I'm not debating, again I can see your point of view and I understand it because I do have a firm grasp on different views in Christianity (seven years on a Christian forum, I think I've seen it all ) -- I just wanted to clarify my point incase I left some things out.

 

I really do believe life boils down to human action and choice most of the time, that will probably be found in my views quite often

 

Thanks for responding to what I wrote <3

 

No problem. I think we are all just learning as we go along. And you are right; God is always the agent of our faith, not us.

 

You are also right when you say that believers are not necessarily his favourites. I think God offers his love equally to all, unconditionally. Where the 'favourite' bit comes in is, as you say, when we respond by allowing him to work within our lives.

[emilylauren]

I find myself praying constantly throughout the day. When little things come up I ask for wisdom in how to act. I try to pray before I get out of bed to center my thoughts on God, and to really focus on getting the most out of the day. More often than not, as of late, I just imagine myself embraced by God and just enjoying the feeling of being comforted, especially when I'm feeling low. I don't know if that really counts as prayer.

 

I dislike thinking of God as just this being that sits around answering our prayers by giving us things. Prayer should be more relational. Often, prayer gives me a chance to evaluate the direction my life is going, to see what is worrying me, a chance to really see the blessings God has given me, and to just ask questions. I don't believe it's God's responsibility to give me a "perfect life", so I find it useless to ask for one. Yes, oftentimes I may ask for things (I pray silently during nearly every test I take ) but I don't really expect to get anything. It's more a way to keep myself calm, I guess. But I do like the feeling of just talking to God, reminding myself that He is there.

 

But this isn't a topic that I've really thought about too much. I'm definetly not an expert! My theology on prayer probably has quite a few holes in it.

[Kyler Rush]

Hello fellow prayer warriors!

 

I have finally come to terms with prayer, but not in the way I thought I would.

As a child I loved to pray. But as I got older, prayer didn't seem like so much fun. Especially when I didn't get what I prayed for. Some bad things were happening that I couldn't stop, so I prayed to God to stop it. But it got worse and I gave up on prayer.

Later in life, my mom would force me to pray out loud during woman's prayer meetings and I began to hate praying. My sisters protected me as best they could because they knew I hated praying, but it didn't help. Whenever my mom forced me to pray the prayers would feel empty and fake, and that would cause me to feel empty and fake.

I missed feeling genuine and honest and open during prayer and I thought prayer was beautiful, but whenever I tried to pray by myself I would feel the same emptiness that came when mom made me pray. But through reading a few posts in this thread, I can to see prayer as beautiful again.

Instead of praying traditionally (On-your-knees-with-head-bowed-and-eyes-closed), I write letters to God. I keep the letters in a metal box about a foot and a-half square.

Thanks to all the people who posted in this thread.

 

Kyler.