Other people praying for you.

The Lonious Monk

Where did the idea that "the more people that pray for something, the more likely it is that it will be granted" come from? A lot of Christians seem to believe this. Like if someone gets sick, members of the family will go to the church and ask everyone to pray for that person. Or if someone is going through hardship, they will try to rally a group of people to pray for theirr deliverance from that hardship.

I'm not saying any of this is wrong. I'm just asking where it came from because I've never really read anything that supports this. I mean Jesus said to ask and it shall be given. So you can pray and have faith and ? will deliver. No one ever said that the more prayers you get, the more likely it is that your desire will be granted. It's not like prayer is a petition. It also doesn't make sense really. Why would ? be more likely to help someone just because they have more people praying for them? He doesn't play favorites. He's going to be just as likely to help a child that only has his mother praying for him as he would to help a child that has a whole church praying for him.

I've only heard one reasonable explanation for this. I discussed it with my wife once, and she said that there is power in our words. The faithful have been gifted with power. Jesus said this, faith moves mountains after all. So if you have lots of people praying for someone, the strength of the faith is what can perform the wonderous works. In other words, it's not so much that ? is granting the blessing based on number of people praying. It's that the people praying are performing the miracle through the strength of their faith.

I don't know if I buy that either, but like I said, it's at least reasonable.

DoUwant2go2Heaven

Well Jesus said, "men ought always to pray, and not to faint;" (Luke 18:1) So why not have everybody and they mama praying? Prayer releases the power of ? my friend. Without prayer, believers are powerless. Prayer connects us to the power source, ? Himself. In fact James 5:16 states, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." So it comes down to who's report are you going to beleive? Are you going to model your life after what the Bible teaches or are you going to lean upon your own understanding by doing things your way? I think this verse sums it all up. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The Lonious Monk

Again as always, you didn't address the actual question. You just quoted scriptures.

The question was not "Should we pray?" or "Should we pray for each other?" The question is whether or not having a lot of people pray for an issue is any more effective than praying for it yourself. Neither of the scriptures you posted addresses that.

DoUwant2go2Heaven

The Lonious Monk wrote: »

Again as always, you didn't address the actual question. You just quoted scriptures.

The question was not "Should we pray?" or "Should we pray for each other?" The question is whether or not having a lot of people pray for an issue is any more effective than praying for it yourself. Neither of the scriptures you posted addresses that.

The scriptures did address the issue. James 5:16 said it and Luke 18:1 said it, with 2 Chronicles 7:14 summing it all up.

Lets break down James 5:16. James explicitly says to "pray for one another, that ye may be healed." Now, why do you think everybody gets together to pray for an issue? Well, James 5:16 just told you why that happens. He then goes on to say, that "the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much." So prayer is an individual thing as well as a collective thing.

Jesus goes on to say that we should always pray and not faint. Well when an issue arises, people are doing what Jesus tells them to do. PRAY. I'm pretty sure people pray on their own before coming together collectively.

Prayer is about connecting to the power source again. Without prayer, we are powerless. Not praying is like trying to turn on the lamp without the plug being in. It's not happening. It's only when you connect the plug into the outlet, that the light will come on. So when believers humble themselves, pray, seek the face of ? , repent, then ? will hear from heaven, forgive us, and heal us.

Again, the people you are talking about are only doing what true believers do, following the example laid forth in the Bible. Praise ? !

judahxulu

The Lonious Monk wrote: »

Where did the idea that "the more people that pray for something, the more likely it is that it will be granted" come from? A lot of Christians seem to believe this. Like if someone gets sick, members of the family will go to the church and ask everyone to pray for that person. Or if someone is going through hardship, they will try to rally a group of people to pray for theirr deliverance from that hardship.

I'm not saying any of this is wrong. I'm just asking where it came from because I've never really read anything that supports this. I mean Jesus said to ask and it shall be given. So you can pray and have faith and ? will deliver. No one ever said that the more prayers you get, the more likely it is that your desire will be granted. It's not like prayer is a petition. It also doesn't make sense really. Why would ? be more likely to help someone just because they have more people praying for them? He doesn't play favorites. He's going to be just as likely to help a child that only has his mother praying for him as he would to help a child that has a whole church praying for him.

I've only heard one reasonable explanation for this. I discussed it with my wife once, and she said that there is power in our words. The faithful have been gifted with power. Jesus said this, faith moves mountains after all. So if you have lots of people praying for someone, the strength of the faith is what can perform the wonderous works. In other words, it's not so much that ? is granting the blessing based on number of people praying. It's that the people praying are performing the miracle through the strength of their faith.

I don't know if I buy that either, but like I said, it's at least reasonable.

The explanation sounds good but its conjecture. Thats not what the book says in general and nothing near what Yeshua had to say about prayer. He said prayer is not a public event and he also said that vain repetitions are useless (to paraphrase). People do what they are comfortable with and make up stories to justify it. For instance- why do Christians pray in the name of jesus? Its linguistically impossible for a Aramaic speaking Israelite to be name Jesus, first of all. Secondly, whatever you want to call him- there is a very precise formula for prayer that he gave - the LORDS Prayer in which he was bigging up YHWH not himself.

Long story short, the stuff that you asked about that you were diligent enough to investigate for yourself are the traditions of men. I'm sure some of the people that do such practices mean well, but it is what it is. The road to hell (on earth) is paved with good intentions.

BiblicalAtheist

The more people praying the more focused energy there is.

The Lonious Monk

its over: 2012! wrote: »

From what I can read, him referencing that scripture he quoted is where he's exactly addressing and answering your question. Especially with James 5:16. Which is where I was going when I first read the thread's topic post.

No he didn't. If you actually read my response to hime, you'd know why that verse does not address what I asked. Again, I did not ask if we are supposed to pray for each other. Maybe I'm not making myself clear. What I'm asking is where the idea that "more people praying for you" = "greater chance that your prayer will be answered" comes from.

The answers can only come from The Bible. And he showed you in The Bible where we clearly are to pray as much as we can for as many as we can.

Again, this has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm talking about. However, on a side note. You say that answers can only come from the Bible. Honest question, do you not believe that is possible to gain insight on something not directly addressed in the Bible through prayer and discussion with other believers? This is not an attempt to put you on the spot. It's honestly just a question out of curiosity and it's open to anyone.

Prayer is the only way for his Children, to talk to ? . That alone makes the question a no-brainer. I would think it is like an issue in a community; the more people that cry out to Leader, the more impacting it is to that Leader to change the current course re: that ordeal or issue or organism.

Now this actually does address what I'm saying, but that's the line of thought that I have to respectfully disagree with. Sure, that's how it works with humans. Politicians make the issues that are causing the greatest concern among the most constituents the biggest priority. ? doesn't work like that. He is not limited in the way we are and has no need to prioritize in such a manner. He also does not play favorites based on how popular we are. Why would he show more concern for helping someone who is alone in the world vs someone is popular among other believers?

prayer is the key to getting ? 's power to unfold, so deductive reasoning allows a rationale mind to conclude that the more of ? 's Children that are praying about a specific ordeal then the more resounding it is amongst his Heavens.

I agree that prayer is the way to unfold ? 's power, but I think your deduction is faulty. And you could be right that more people praying makes a more resounding noise in Heaven. But I really don't think ? is so arbitrary as to make the blessings he hands out based on popularity.

Juda I agree with what you're saying to a point. I do believe that there are some misconceptions about prayer namely regarding what you pointed out. A lot of people think that the longer your prayer is and the more you yell during prayer, the better your prayeris. When as you pointed out, that is the exact opposite of how the Bible says we should pray. Another good example is how people seem to believe that the "Our Father" prayer is some simple prayer for kids when in actuality Jesus gives it as the prototypical prayer. I do disagree with you in one sense though. I don't think it's wrong for groups to pray for a cause. However, unlike others, I don't believe that kinda prayer makes the prayer more effective, I think it's primary purpose is to strengthen bonds between fellow believers. A family that prays together stays together after all. That goes for a blood family and a spiritual family.

ThaChozenWun

No idea where it came from or says that it numbers prayer is stronger.


I know about 100 people who said they would pray for me because I was no longer a believer in a literal bible.


Aint ? happened since they started neither.

melanated khemist

every thought is a so called prayer think wisely

judahxulu

melanated khemist wrote: »

every thought is a so called prayer think wisely

^ This........

melanated khemist

judahxulu wrote: »

^ This........

Im on day 3 of the smoothie. still tweaking the taste, i think i have everything except shelled ? seeds. the 1st day i used too much cocoa powder and spirulina so it was kinda thick.
I havnt had any dreams yet,but the ? has me feeling good and light. thanks