Do prayers work backward in time?

[WhiteWings]

Example:
Say a relative died in a car crash and his family prays that he was killed instantly and didn't suffer in the fire when the car went up in flames.
Can it be that because of those future prayers the person was killed instantly?

[redhotmagma]

I don't see why not, God is not limited to time.  Kind of hard to wrap your head around though

[CHB]

Example:
Say a relative died in a car crash and his family prays that he was killed instantly and didn't suffer in the fire when the car went up in flames.
Can it be that because of those future prayers the person was killed instantly?

Or maybe it is the oposite. Because of the wreck the prayers were being made, not that it kept the relative from suffering but it caused the family member to seek God. If the relative didn't suffer it was because God planned it that way, not that the prayers kept it from happening, althouigh it is a possibility. I kinda of think what's already been done won't be reversed. Not that God can't reverse things, it's just that I don't see those things happening now.

CHB

[WhiteWings]

I'm not saying God reverses things; I'm saying (asking) that God made sure the person in the car wreck didn't suffer BECAUSE He knew the family would start praying the next day.
He looked into the future and used that knowledge to decide what to do during the car crash.

[Molly]

It sure looks that way to me.  I'll see some catastrophe reported and do a quick calculation of probable casualties in my head and then start praying.  I'm often amazed at how few the casualties are compared to what I predicted [based on reasonable assumptions].

Case in point twin towers on 911.  Twenty thousand people should have died that day, based on how many were in the buildings and how long it takes to evacuate those buildings.

[micah7:9]

I dont recieve that. From what I understand that unless it is His Will in what you are praying, then it is our will that Im praying and that is vanity.
Just the way I understand it.

[Miriam]

C S Lewis believed this to be so, I think in his book "Miracles" though it's years since I read it. That God sees time in its entirety and takes into account the prayers prayed after an event as well as before. At least, I think that's how he put it. It's a concept that kind of blows my mind and could be a terrible pressure... should we still be praying for the alleviation of past tragedies? How much prayer is enough?  :mshock:

[thinktank]

I'm not saying God reverses things; I'm saying (asking) that God made sure the person in the car wreck didn't suffer BECAUSE He knew the family would start praying the next day.
He looked into the future and used that knowledge to decide what to do during the car crash.

The scripture says he knows our thoughts before we pray, praying. It could mean what you said, but also can simply mean that he knows what we have in need of before we ask, but we must pray and ask those things in the present, in order to seed the heavens and establish the earth. In your perspective, the reapear woul overtake the sower. But interestingly it says in scripture in the last days the reaper shall overtake the sower, so in effect it could mean that the harvest in the last days are so fast that it happens even before we sow the seed.
------------------

I have also thought this question wings but I have looked at it at another angle, and that is for out future prayers, or our present prayers to go back in the past to comfort those in the past. Sometimes I pray for bad times I went through in the past, so that the seed is planted in that time frame and Jesus can help me in those instances, so then my present becomes a changed present based on that prayer, where my past was blessed by God, whereas before it maybe was not. So by blessing the past it births a better present/future.
:2c:

[WhiteWings]

I find it unfair that prayers work for others...
Some people are lonely and have no friends (that pray for them).
But I bet many prayed when Michael Jackson died.
Does God give more Mercy to people because they are famous?
It seems like like it if I read about praying for others.
Praying for others is asking God to give positive things to that person. Assuming God acts on such prayers it means He by default gives more blessing to the famous.
But famous isn't a synonym for good. Famous people can be rotten to the core. But still they receive 100s extra blessings and that good, but lonely man gets none.
:thinking:

[thinktank]

Yeah but famous people also get cursed even more. How many attacks does the president receive from those who spit out negative words on a daily basis and even those who are clean slip  up now and again.

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: He says He knows the hairs on our head. The Spirit prays thru intercessory prayer, and unless He allows you to know what He said, you have no idea who you might be praying for, even if consciously you started out thinking you were praying for a relative in the Spirit. You could be praying for someone in China getting ready to get hit by a bus; God is no respector of persons, only we are. So He pours out the rain of His Spirit upon everyone. My  :2c:

[Molly]

:cloud9: He says He knows the hairs on our head. The Spirit prays thru intercessory prayer, and unless He allows you to know what He said, you have no idea who you might be praying for, even if consciously you started out thinking you were praying for a relative in the Spirit. You could be praying for someone in China getting ready to get hit by a bus; God is no respector of persons, only we are. So He pours out the rain of His Spirit upon everyone. My  :2c:

Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

[Aleax]

I'd be inclined to think that they do.

Last Friday this one woman at church, who's specialized in prayer, told us that if we only knew all the (spiritual) things that are going on around of us, and how effective prayer is, we'd be praying a lot more than we currently do.

If I don't remember it all wrong, Cardinal has had a similar experience; she said that for a period of time she could see (sense? feel?) all the spiritual things happening around of us, and that if we really saw all that invisible stuff none of us could sleep well at night. Or something like that.

[WhiteWings]

Quote from Cardinal
 
Aleax......this is a true story and I hope you're not offended, because what I'm going to tell you could literally save your life.

Before I came to the Lord, my step-sons played Dungeons and Dragons with 2 of their friends in our basement for a total of 3 years. One week after I came to the Lord, He moved on me to go look at those books. They had told their dad and I that they were like "knights and armor" type stuff. What I found was so deeply disturbing I ran upstairs to throw up.

In addition to an demonic looking Jesus on a cross, one page told kids to summon demons, another told them to where they might be able to obtain human blood and bones for their spells (graveyard, hospital). I waited for their dad to come home (who was not a Christian) and showed him the books. Even he was offended.

I made a call to a Christian friend who was going to come over after work to burn them with me. It was nearly the last call I ever got to make, as I met what they had summoned that afternoon. I fought it off (spiritually speaking) then went to take a nap. During my nap, apparently it was up to more mischief, because the Lord spoke to my mother at work, telling her "that if she didn't pray for me NOW, I was going to die". She stopped what she was doing and was crying and praying, not having a clue what for.

When my friend came to the door she told me what had happened with my mom at work, and we set about trying to get the books all carted out of the basement. My friend went down the stairs first, she froze and began to pray vigorously. Their "creation" had wrapped itself around her leg and she couldn't lift her foot up. It was trying to protect the books.

We finally got them up and out of there and when we tried to burn them, because they wouldn't burn, I became panicked and ran and got the lawnmower gas can and poured it on an open flame (paper towel burning). My friend and her daughter ran screaming, telling me to drop the gas can, as the flame went up into the can opening. I was dumbfounded (and dumb) and said, "God's not going to let me die now, He just saved me last week!"

As soon as I said it, the fire went out immediately and the can didn't explode. Even WITH the gas poured on them, the books wouldn't burn. Finally, out of the mouth of babes, her daughter suggested we pray over them. Duh   We did, and they began to burn, but not without a sub-human scream coming from them and a greenish thing rising up out of them.

The reason we are told to think on whatsoever is lovely, of good report, ect., is not so we don't become depressed with the trials of this walk and life in general, although no doubt it helps with that too, it's because the soul, of which the carnal mind is a part, reproduces or gives LIFE (strength) to whatever seed is planted in it. The demons know this and know it's no different to what the serpent did to Eve in the garden. This is also why we're told to guard our heart with all diligence, because out of it come the issues of life.

The woman who had an issue of blood speaks of the soul of every man, because until "she" is totally consumed by the mind of Christ, she keeps reproducing the things that are NOT like Him. This is why the Father said man's heart only produces evil imaginations continually. He also said don't take an unclean thing into your house lest you worship that thing. The reason being, is because the spirit of the thing is hidden in the object. This is why Paul said it's not the idol that is anything but the spirit behind it.
What I've just shared happened only EIGHT DAYS after I came to the Lord, and began a walk of deliverance for others (particularly from these same types of spirits) that the Lord led us thru for the next 3 years.

Dungeons and Dragons relies heavily on info from the (out in the open) Satanic church, as from it's content it's not hard to see that their witchcraft and occult knowledge was used to snare it's users. Perhaps they even "tamed" down the net game, but the same principles exist. They seek to harness your "woman" (soul) to "impregnate" her and make her reproduce giants in the land.

A wise friend at the beginning of my walk told me that the devil never bothers you as long as you're walking in the same direction he is; it's only when you turn to go the other direction that you run into him. You may never see the spirit behind this thing until it's too late, because it stays hidden until you try to get rid of it. My   Blessings to you.....

[Cardinal]

I'd be inclined to think that they do.

Last Friday this one woman at church, who's specialized in prayer, told us that if we only knew all the (spiritual) things that are going on around of us, and how effective prayer is, we'd be praying a lot more than we currently do.

If I don't remember it all wrong, Cardinal has had a similar experience; she said that for a period of time she could see (sense? feel?) all the spiritual things happening around of us, and that if we really saw all that invisible stuff none of us could sleep well at night. Or something like that.

:cloud9: She's right, and that's both good things and not good things.....they are there, but we just can't see them without the Lord's opening our eyes to see.

With someone as hard-headed as me, He had to show me the negatives first to make sure He had my complete attention.......He got it....... :laughing7: :mshock:

[Nil Recurring]

Interesting thoughts. A dear old friend of mine underwent chemo to combat Prostate cancer and I wasn't informed of the date until after the fact. Nice thought to think my prayers now can reach back in time.

And, not to derail the thread, but I love me some DnD.  :Sparkletooth:

[micah7:9]

ALL prayers are heard and answered, whether they are before the obstacle or after the obstacle the need. There is only one prerequisite..................it needs to be the WILL OF GOD/FATHER. NO OTHER WILL has the ability to get it done.
We, family and friends can pray and we should, but the hinderance of the completion, is whether it is His Will.
Peace and Love Through Jesus.

[Pierac]

Example:
Say a relative died in a car crash and his family prays that he was killed instantly and didn't suffer in the fire when the car went up in flames.
Can it be that because of those future prayers the person was killed instantly?

You are thinking wrong about the idea of prayer.... :2c:

Jesus taught you how to pray...

Mat 6:10  'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

The true question is... was it God's will to die instantly or to die more slowly?  It's all about God's will, and not our wants or desires.... If a slow death glorifies God then it will be slow, If a fast death... then it will be fast... No matter, in the end we should pray the same... Thy will be done!    :thumbsup:


Paul

[micah7:9]

Example:
Say a relative died in a car crash and his family prays that he was killed instantly and didn't suffer in the fire when the car went up in flames.
Can it be that because of those future prayers the person was killed instantly?

You are thinking wrong about the idea of prayer.... :2c:

Jesus taught you how to pray...

:thumbsup:

Mat 6:10  'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

The true question is... was it God's will to die instantly or to die more slowly?  It's all about God's will, and not our wants or desires.... If a slow death glorifies God then it will be slow, If a fast death... then it will be fast... No matter, in the end we should pray the same... Thy will be done!    :thumbsup:


Paul

[WhiteWings]

Example:
Say a relative died in a car crash and his family prays that he was killed instantly and didn't suffer in the fire when the car went up in flames.
Can it be that because of those future prayers the person was killed instantly?

You are thinking wrong about the idea of prayer.... :2c:

Jesus taught you how to pray...

Mat 6:10  'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

But still we are told to pray. Using the right words is not really the point of discussion, but let's assume the right words are used.

The true question is... was it God's will to die instantly or to die more slowly?  It's all about God's will, and not our wants or desires.... If a slow death glorifies God then it will be slow,

Just like people in hell glorify God.... :sigh:

If a fast death... then it will be fast... No matter, in the end we should pray the same... Thy will be done! [/color]   :thumbsup:


Paul

In that case I have to ask if you don't see a tension/contradiction in the above.

God has a will.
That will shall be done.
It doesn't depend on what we want. Read what we pray.
Jesus teaches us how to pray.
But even Jesus' way of praying has no effect at all. It doesn't change His will.
:dontknow:

[micah7:9]

Simply, it is HIS WILL that is to be done.

[WhiteWings]

Simply, it is HIS WILL that is to be done.

Simply, prayers are a waste of time.

[Molly]

Simply, it is HIS WILL that is to be done.

Simply, prayers are a waste of time.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (New American Standard Bible)

17pray without ceasing; 

[WhiteWings]

Simply, it is HIS WILL that is to be done.

Simply, prayers are a waste of time.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (New American Standard Bible)

17pray without ceasing;

But why if they have no effect at all? His will is done no matter how, when, what is prayed.

[Molly]

Simply, it is HIS WILL that is to be done.

Simply, prayers are a waste of time.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (New American Standard Bible)

17pray without ceasing;

But why if they have no effect at all? His will is done no matter how, when, what is prayed.

We are his agents, his eyes and ears on the ground, so to speak.

Praying in his will keeps us from messing up.