How Do You Know If Your Prayer Has Been Answered? (God)

[Lightkeeper]

How can you be sure you have received an answer from God?

[Mister Emu]

When the event you pray about comes to pass, or if you pray for something whether or not it comes, tells you how your prayer was answered.

[Mr Spinkles]

You can't be sure a prayer has been answered. Whether God answers prayers or not, any observation could be interpreted as evidence that the prayer has been answered, because it is allowed that God can answer prayers in ways we didn't want Him to.

[Runt]

Or maybe it just tells you that you prayed for something that was possible... and that would have occurred regardless of whether or not some God responded...

[Ceridwen018]

I agree, Runt. When I was in 7th grade, my mom agreed to buy me my first horse. I prayed and prayed and prayed for God to help me find the right horse, but time after time, the horse either wouldn't pass the veterinary inspection, or we wouldn't be able to get him for some other reason. Of course I wondered why God wasn't answering my prayers, also why he thought it acceptable to subject me to a broken heart over every horse we had to turn down, (I couldn't help falling in love at first sight!). I rationalized it, that for me to have a horse at this particular point in my life just wasn't part of his 'plan', and that maybe all of this emotional trauma was intended to 'make me stronger'. I found hope in the adage, "Just because your prayer isn't answered, doesn't mean God is saying 'no'. He may just be saying 'wait'." Finally, my Freshmen year of high school, I found my wonderful Paddy and we bought him. Was this the result of god answering my prayers? At the time I certainly thought so.

However, how can I be sure? You see, with a mom who is willing to pay for a horse, and a daughter who wants one more than anything, the probability of that team eventually getting a horse (without a god) is incredibly high. You could argue that god was obviously at work because we got such a great horse, but I could retort "Yeah, after two flippin' years of searching!" The point is, is that if I had found a fabulous horse in the first week of looking for one, that would have been something, but after two years? Also, although I love him very much, in all truth my horse is far from perfect. He is incredibly talented, however he was 15 years old, which is gettin' up there for a horse. Also, I worked my butt of for two more years to teach him everythig he knows and make him a successful international level horse. Now, if he had been perfectly trained (and the same price, hehe) when I got him, that would have been another gold star for god.

All I'm saying, is that I would expect for deeds which are specifically done by god to be done with a bit more prestige and precision, rather than resembling the incredibly imperfect process and result which would have happened anyway. Another thing that bugs me, is that God is not held accountable for anything. If he does 'answer' a prayer (aka, if your request comes to pass), it's all about 'yay for god!' However, if he doesn't 'answer' your prayer, your response is 'I'm not worthy', or 'it's just not what god wanted."

Sorry to ramble on, but this prayer issue has been a big deal for me. The above horse episode was one of the contributors to my current lack of belief.

[standing_on_one_foot]

I shall get back to you on this when I win the lottery