No Andrew, it isn’t a matter of God answering your prayers but of having eyes to see the answers to prayers when they come. Sometimes (as is obvious) the answer is “no” or “yes, but not in the way you thought,” or “what is coming your way answers your prayer by giving you challenges you didn’t want but from which you may grow.” I have prayed to be filled with love, only to be given challenges that stretched me to learn to love. I didn’t see that coming, but when I finally got it I saw it in answer to my prayers. Further, if you don’t have faith, you just won’t pray at all because prayer is the quintessential act of faith. Even the “God, if you’re there . . . ” prayers are acts of faith because maybe, just maybe someone is listening. What surprised me was when God started talking back.

My feeling is that God wants all of us to become gods, and that will require all of us to make perfect decisions every single time. To help us develop that skill, he often leaves us to our own devices.”

Thank you for this. I appreciate it. Of course you certainly could be right. My approach, after this realization, coupled with many others, was to question the basic assumption of God’s existence altogether. Maybe I’m wrong. I hope so. For me, God was the last thing I doubted. Of course the church was first. And I still think I have a propensity to believe. But I’m more inclined towards Albert Einstein’s views of God. He believed in some sort of creating force, or energy, that unifies us and created the harmony we see around us. But he was doubtful as to the existence of a personal god. Good thoughts though, thank you.

I have had answers come to me that were difficult to hear and were not something I was focused on or even expecting, so having had this experience I would say that God does literally answer prayers.

I think it is important to remember that when we are too overwhelmed to pray or to angry or hurt, He is still there and will wait for us to approach Him when we can. He is capable of taking anger and hurt from us if we ask Him. What is great about prayer is that we can ask for Him to lighten our burdens and He does. Even if the burden is lifted for several hours before we start to feel it again, we can return to Him in prayer and ask the same thing again and know that He will help us again. When we find ourselves in this type of situation where a burden is heavy and not taken away, but lightened at times through prayer, we come to understand more about ourselves and God. To me, the gift of having a burden lightened through prayer, if even only for an hour or two at a time, is one of the greatest blessings of prayer.

I believe prayer is for us to show our love to our Maker, to show what we desire, to express who we are and what we care about the most. It is also to ask for help and relief. It is for us to come to know those things about ourselves, things we cannot understand any other way, because God already knows us perfectly. He knows where our breaking point is and what our hearts truly desire. He knows our deepests hopes and fears, and what we are capable of becoming. He also knows how much we love Him or how much we don’t. The wonderful thing is His love isn’t dependent on our love for Him. He loves us no matter what and always will. Just knowing someone is there 24/7 to listen, even if we can’t speak our prayers, even if we cannot even whisper them, if they are just our heart breaking, He hears, understands and responds whether we immediately recognize His presence or not.

Like you, most of my life-changing were not accompanied by strong spiritual promptings, but were ultimatley decided by rational logic, despite weeks of prayer, fasting and temple attendance.

I take comfort in this quote from Brigham Young (in the Church BY manual from 10 years back, p.46) “If I ask him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in life…and get no answer from him, and then do the very best that my judgement will teach me, he is duty-bound to own and honor that transaction, and he will do so for all intents and purposes.”

My feeling is that God wants all of us to become gods, and that will require all of us to make perfect decisions every single time. To help us develop that skill, he often leaves us to our own devices.

Well, I haven’t been invited. I just figured if you guys thought I added to the group you’d invite me, otherwise, I’d just keep plugging along!! I didn’t want to push my luck or anything!

So, is what you’re saying that if you have faith, you may receive answers from God, but if you don’t have faith, you simply will not?

This seems like a really bad game.

Absolutely brilliant!! This is a great summation of my thoughts on the matter.

@Blake and @Kent
“he believes that God seeks peers who choose to enter into a loving relationship with Him. He also believes that God experiences our lives with us intimately (not just cognitively) and feels our pain and joys.”

I believe this too (albeit in a more metaphorical sense). That’s why I’m so confused as to why Blake is suggesting that I don’t understand the nature of God or the relationship He seeks to have with me. Maybe I just didn’t articulate it very well. I’m inclined to wonder the same thing hawkgrrrl mentioned:

“Wouldn’t it be mind-blowing if we only get to see God once we become god, and it turns out to be us.”

Anyway, I can’t help but feel that Blake did a bit of assuming when he mentioned my “false assumptions” about God.

To divulge a bit more let me say that I fully respect Blake’s experience with prayer and God and his son. That’s amazing. Oh how I wish something like that could happen to me. I have always said if I could obtain some “unmistakable witness” that the church is true (in a TBM sense), or that God exists I would rescind all my heterodox ideas and go back to being orthodox. I tried so hard. I prayed, and fasted, and read, and pondered, and listened and then got…nothing. It’s all been very disheartening!

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.”

Yup, I do affirm that. If you don’t have faith, you’ll never see with eyes of faith. Full stop.

When I pray, God talks back to me. When I ask questions, often the answer occurs to me immediately in surprising ways. Once I asked where my lost son was and the answer was spoken back to me immediately and I found him right where I knew I would — but only after I was told in prayer. I know not everyone experiences that, but it is just what I experience. However, I anguish over prayers for others that go unanswered as I have asked and I sometimes feel that God has given a stone instead of bread. Sometimes I argue with God — tho I have never won the argument. I’m just amazed that he listens to me at all.

SteveS, I could offer a heretical view that was popular with my good friend Marcion 1900 years ago.

see…you ever notice how God seemed to be one way for a while…and then this Jesus dude appears on the scene, and God magically becomes another way. I mean, God used to be all, “rah rah rahaaaaaa DESTROY vengeance mayhem!” and then with Jesus, he’s like, “Oh, guys, love love love!”

It seems that God stopped being pursuaded by prayers magically around the ushering and fulfillment of the law.

D&C 46 suggests that some have a spiritual gift to know for themselves through the spirit; others have a spiritual gift to have faith in the words of those who know. That seems to me to entail that not everyone will have such direct spiritual confirmation because for them the fact that others have such experiences is sufficient to sustain their faith. In fact, I’ll quote D&C 46:11.

For all have not every gift given to them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God…. To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus is the Son of God, and the he was crucified for the sins of the world. To others it is given to believe on their words, that they might also have eternal life if they continue faithful.

I suggest that that implies that there will be people, even though notwithstanding the promise in Moroni 10, for whom they will not have a direct religious experience. I know lots of faithful Latter-Day Saints, notwithstanding earnest study and long prayer, have not received the burning in the bosom of which I speak. In fact there was a wonderful Relief Society President in Genova who was constantly in crisis because the Elders had promised her that all she had to do was ask and she would have the spiritual experiences like they had. I suggest that maybe her faith was sufficient, and she did have faith.

As far as the question of prayers being answered, I draw a distinction between my prayers and my requests. My prayers are almost always answered, in the feelings I have and the influence of the Holy Ghost that I feel. My requests, however, for the most part tend not to be granted. One of the reasons for this, I think, is that frequent miraculous interventions defeat the purpose of faith and agency.

I have found that my prayers have changed over the past decade or so, as I have come to that understanding. I no longer pray for relief from my various health issues, but simply ask to be supported through them. I don’t often pray that specific things will happen, but rather I pray for the ability to accept the things that do happen. Through prayer, I have been able to learn the things God wants me to learn from my experiences.

I can’t speak for anyone else’s experiences, but these are some of my thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for providing answers to my question. I appreciate the time you took, the detail, and introspection that was apparent in your answer.

Maybe if I am able to do another post I will divulge my personal story of how I got here. I’m sure the suspense is riveting for everyone!

jmb, please do not be deceived: It isn’t a question of “if” you’re able to do another post. Everyone here is wondering why you haven’t come on as a permablogger yet.