Hmm.. OK so for the longest time I've been a believer. I've grown up going to church most of my life, and my mother is very religious. She watches "Praise the Lord" on TBN just about every night.

When I was younger, I never would have imagined myself questioning the existence of God. He was a figure that was definite and true.

Lately, however, I've been wondering the very question. Does God really exist? If he does, then why isn't he active in my life? Do I not matter to Him?

I'll be honest. I really want God to exist. The concept of a loving and almighty God is very comforting, and it gives hope to people in times of struggle. It also lays out the existence of a great and eternal life after death.

But is God a made-up figure from the human mind that has been passed from person to person like chain-mail threatening eternal condemnation or the right to eternal life in Heaven? That has been my thoughts recently.

Anyway, about the topic title regarding prayers, about a month ago I was given the chance to go on a mission trip with my youth group. I was very confused on whether I should go or not because it seemed like such a nice trip that was going to benefit others as well as give myself a bit of a vacation. At the same time however, I was new to the group, and I wasn't really good friends with other people in the group (they have certain interests that I don't), and I didn't want to spend a week with people that were going to get on my nerves the whole time. To add on to all of this pressure, I had to tell the youth group pastor if I wanted to go or not within the next two days. I was very confused, so I turned to God and asked His advice on the situation. I prayed and prayed, and read my Bible. No answer. Read my Bible some more. No answer. I finally had to tell the youth pastor that I didn't feel like going on the trip. Plus the situation left me feeling like God didn't care about me enough to talk to me. What's the deal with that?

Please don't tell me I just don't have enough faith, and that is why God doesn't talk to me. I pray, and ask for a sign that God is still there without result. Sometimes I even stare at the evangelists on TV when they are receiving word from God about people's problems and telling them that they will be heald, and I find myself saying to myself, "Please speak to me about my problems.", and you know, they never do.

I think that in prayer, there is an answer, the answer is just:

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Wait.

I think that not always getting what one wants is a struggle of life. While it might be wise to fear God, bad things can happen to righteous people and unrighteous people alike. There is turning to the book of Job when in doubt of this.

This post has been edited by HlMelody: Jul 16 2009, 06:21 AM

God always answers your prayers. Not always the way you want to, but he does hear answer them. Sometimes you are just so caught up on how you think it's going to be when He answers them that you don't even recognize it when He does.

Redemption Radio Episode #1 has a great message from Jake concerning just that.


www.redemptionradio.com/radio/index.php

Give it a listen!



tldr: God has something better for you.

The vibe I'm getting is that you pray to God thinking he fills orders and hands answers out just like you wanted. God doesn't work that way

Hey slamminyea, thanks for posting.

I think the important thing to realise here is that God does listen to your prayers, and he does answer them. So, you wanted a response as to whether you should go on that trip or not. And you didn't feel like you heard anything. Result? You didn't go on the trip. Now, you don't know what would have happened had you gone on the trip, but God does. Maybe he didn't want you to go on the trip - and so you did get your response, it just wasn't the way you expected it.

Wait for now - I bet in the next couple of weeks you'll realise that you shouldn't have gone on that trip, for whatever reason.

I know the feeling , sometimes it feels like your prayers arent getting through the roof but God always speaks to you if you dont hear it then youre not listening. Its not going to be like a phone call in your head where He goes"yo its me God you should go on the trip" butHe will speak to you if you just listen.


btw dont always compare your relationship to God with the late night telvevangalists, maybe its me but i think some of them are a joke like joel osteen, no doubt many are sincere but many arent

If youve ever hurd the expression "god works in mysterious ways" you can bet your bottom dollar that it origionally came from a Christian. Through personal experience ive noticed god really does work in mysterious ways and what you expect is far from what god has planned... Always.

Heres one of my favourite stories I hope you read it and get something out of it, maybe you have hurd it before.

There was a sudden flood and a man seeing the flood coming stood on the rooftop of his house. The flood water started rising and the man said "I have nothing to fear, God will save me!" He then prayed for god to save him. He waited for God to reach down and move him off the rooftop to safety but nothing happend, suddenly a raft appeared, the man on the raft said, "Sir, I have room for one more, hop on and it will bring us to safety." The man on the roof replied, "I do not need your raft. for God will save me from this flood."

The water continued to rise and the man keeping his faith strong in god was sure that god would save him from the flood. A man in a canoe rowed by and said, "Sir hop in this canoe, we'll be sure to make it to safety." However the man on the rooftop said, "For me to jump in the canoe would show I lack faith, I believe god will save me from this rooftop and not a canoe."

Soon the water was at his waist, a man came driving by in his large boat and said, "Sir, theres plenty of room in this boat, please hop in and we'll be safe for sure." However staying strong in faith the man decided that god will still save him from the rooftop and he does not need a boat.

The water eventually drowned him and when he died he talked to god and said, "God why did you not save me? I kept my faith strong but you did not reply." God then replied, "I sent you the raft, I sent you the canoe and I sent you the boat, absolutely i hurd your prayers and answered them."

The reason i typed that long story is because it reminds me of your situation. You prayed to god and expected some sort of a sign, like hes going to almost tell you that you'll be ok. You're looking for God and wanting him to show himself, so theres a bible camp. However because God isn't showing himself in your life you dont go to the Bible camp. How very similar is this story to the story of the man on the rooftop? He wouldn't go on the boat because he was waiting for God to save him. You wouldn't go to the camp because you wanted some proof God exists.

I hope this helped.

God will answer prayers in His time and in His way.Sometimes we may not like the answers,but God has a reason.
Never give up and lose faith.Keep praying(praise Him too),keep reading the Bible,and try to go to church.
I used to have very little faith,but it has grown.

God can come and help you to have faith, but you must do the searching. You have to accept Christ, go find a church to go to. He will never leave you ever

Sometimes we're looking for a certain sign and I we completely fly over the sign that God has given us. Just open your mind and heart a little. God's there.

I have had similar experiences, but I learned that praying to God for "things" or wanting things to be different is just ignoring the life that God is giving you Here and Now. The best way that I have found to worship God is to just accept the life that is coming through my senses, to open the Present. The best way that I have found to pray is to just put my hands together and sit in silence and open up my senses completely to receive and reflect the life that God is giving me in the Present. It is free, fulfilling, and always new.

"Behold; I make all things new."

Slamminyea,

Did you ever hear the joke about a man who was stuck on the roof of his house in the middle of a flash flood? Yes? No? Well, the joke (I found this on a joke website, anyway) goes there was a man stuck on the roof of his house in the middle of a flash flood, and he was praying that God save him. Soon a young man drifted by standing on his kitchen table, and called to the man sitting on his roof. But the man on the roof shook his head and said, "I don't need to go with you. God will save me." The man on the table gave him a funny look and continued on.
Again the man on the roof prayed for God to save him. Soon a Coast Guard lifeboat sped over to him and offered a ride. The man on the roof shook his head and said again, "I don't need to go with you! My God will save me." Like the man on the table had done, the men on the boat gave him a funny look and sped off.
Soon the water level had risen higher than before, and the man began to get nervous. he prayed a third time that God save him. Suddenly a Coast Guard helicopter whirled by overhead and threw him down a laddar. But the man on the roof screamed over the sound of the chopper saying, "I don't need to climb up! My God will rescue me!"
After the helicopter had given up and left, the roof was now completely submerged underwater. The current eventually ripped the man off the roof, and away we went. Before he drowned he cursed God for not saving him, and a vocie returned his sorrow from heaven.
"I sent you a floating table, a boat, and a helicopter. I tried to save you three times, but you wouldn't have it! It is too late now."
And the man drowned.

You see, slamminyea, in the case of the mission trip you wanted to go on you were expecting to get a telephone call from God or something...like He was just going to tell you to go! That isn't how God works. He doesn't want us to be lazy and make Him do all the work for us. We have to be proactive! You had to be proactive if you wanted to go on that mission trip. Any doubts you had about going was Satan trying to keep you from going. I must say it worked! And it put doubt in your mind. Slamminyea, Satan is trying to take you over! Doubting God like this is a first step away from God.

I hope this was any help to answering your question.

Like most have mentioned here God doesn't always answer us the way that WE want Him to. Also, God doesn't act upon our time tables. He acts upon His. God is real. You need to understand that. Just because He doesn't answer one of your prayers in time doesn't mean that He doesn't care or He doesn't exist.

Also, how much time do you spend with God? Do you pray to Him when you want to do something and need approval? Do you only pray to Him when in trouble? God wont answer us if we are only seeking Him for ourselves. He wants a RELATIONSHIP with us. Not a religion. Being religious has nothing to do with either. Being religious doesn't make you saved. Watching TBN doesn't get you into heaven. Having a personal relationship with the Creator and Savior of this world does. That is what I am realizing. I did things because my pastors and God wanted me to do them. Not because I wanted to. My "love" for Him was only on the surface. Unless you LONG for a relationship with Him, you will have doubts. Unless you DESIRE to be His, you will feel empty. Unless you truly learn to love Him, you will keep thinking that it will be amazing to have a God that loves you and cares for you.

Guess what? HE DOES! He loves you so much that He sent His ONLY Son to DIE for you. To be cursed, ridiculed, tortured, and killed. Christ loved you so much that He came down from PERFECTION, from Heaven, to become man, to become sin. He became the price that was to be paid for YOUR sins. As Christ hung on the cross, He thought of you. He thought of your sin that you would commit against Him. His love outweighed His feelings of pain. He died for you. He loves YOU! God is real. God is love. God is Just. Just because He doesn't answer one prayer doesn't mean that all of these qualities and facts disappear. It just means that your faith is small. Believing in God requires faith and a whole lot of it.

I have doubted only to have my eyes opened. Once you realize that you doubt God, or become angry with Him, this overwhelming feeling of shame comes upon you. But God is SO good to forgive. Repent of your doubt and turn to Him everyday. Not only when prayers need to be answered. Turn to Him because the love you have for Him causes you to. Learn to love Him as He loved you.

If you have anymore questions, please feel free to PM me. I would love to help.

God Bless,

Victoria

God does not answer all our prayers.. But I strongly believe that He provides us all we need even before we ask. There are some things in the world that we can't possess simply because it's not God's will for us to have. No matter how hard we pray, if God does not allow it to happen, we just need to accept it.

So when God don't answer our prayers, we simply need to believe that God has better plans for us. But there are times that He answers our prayers though not instantly. Most of the time, it takes weeks, months even years before it is answered. He just wanted us to seek more :-)

Job 33:12-18
¹² “But you are wrong, and I will show you why.
For God is greater than any human being.
¹³ So why are you bringing a charge against him?
Why say he does not respond to people’s complaints?
¹⁴ For God speaks again and again,
though people do not recognize it.
¹⁵ He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they lie in their beds.
¹⁶ He whispers in their ears
and terrifies them with warnings.
¹⁷ He makes them turn from doing wrong;
he keeps them from pride.
¹⁸ He protects them from the grave,
from crossing over the river of death.

God always answers your prayers, you may not get the answer you expect but there always is one. God always has a plan for you.

i am the daughter of a minister so i have grown up in the church my entire life. i knew that I believed in God and i loved Him. up until the day that some of the elders of my church started trying to get my dad fired because he "wasn't fond of him or his family". these men were some of my fathers closest friends. it killed me and i couldn't understand how men of God could act that way or how He could let them. this and several other events caused me to spiral down into a deep depression. i hated God for the longest time. i prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed for Him to make me better and to show me that he was somehow there. but i never received an answer. that was five years ago. a few weeks ago i went to CIY and while there God spoke to me. and every single event that i ever blamed Him for was explained to me. it all happened to bring me to that very moment when i would realize that God was commanding me to be a missionary.



basically what i'm trying to say is God will eventually answer your prayer. whether the answer be : yes, no, or wait a while.
He is listening though. God's timing doesnt make any sense to us sometimes, actually it rarely does. but if it is supposed to happen it will. trust me.

God will answer prayers. It may not seem like he does but he can answer them in ways you never expected.
He will always be there for and will never forsake you

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

Sometimes one must relax and listen to God and hear what he has to say.

If you ever need to talk feel free to PM me

It's interesting how we all hold God to our standard while we don't even honestly attempt to hold His. What are the two greatest commandments?

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’a 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’b 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

How many of us truly keep this to His standard? I would say none. Are there any of us that love anything with all our heart, all our soul and all of our mind? But yet we're oh so quick to say God, the creator of the universe doesn't stop time like He did for Josuha and spin it backward for us.

Is there unconfessed sin in our life, is there unrealized sin in our life? Chances are yes, but yet we still want the creator of the universe to put our prayer at the front of the other 6 billion souls ahead of us. How selfish is that, but yet in God still loves us individually and personally. Does a loving God answer all of our wants and desires? No. Does a loving God answer on our time schedule, which if I may be so bold, as a teenager is a bit short? No.

As a previous poster offered up Job as an example, I would even offer up his friends. They sat with Job for seven days without speaking, just listening. Even with that level of patience and support they were judged guilty for their indictment of Job. Finally with Job's faith and commitment, God then preceded to challenge him for his contempt. How does our faith compare to Job's? Yet we still want God to send us a line. John the Baptist struggled with this issue while in prison, so you are not alone.

I will leave you with this is part of your Christian journey (James 1:3). Take you questions, doubts, cares and concerns honestly to the Lord as He promises He will never forsake you or leave you. Search the world for truth, see what you find. If you are honest at the end of your journey you will find Christ. Part of being a teen is to "own your faith," not accept your parents faith. There are no second generation Christians.

Your fellow sojourner

I think God's answer to you was "do what you want to do. No one is going to decide what you should do other than you."

I am so glad you shared this
A couple years ago, I asked the same questions.
Does God really exist?
Yes. The proof, Is everywhere. Walk outside.
What do you see?
Who made the Earth, the sky, the trees, the grass, everything?
Who keeps you safe from harms way?
Don't give up. Keep praying. Keep asking. Go to Jesus. Seek him, you'll find him.

yes
He promises
"never will i leave you, never will i forsake you" Hebrews 13:5


About:
"I didn't want to spend a week with people that were going to get on my nerves the whole time."
You already went into the the thought with a negative perception about how things would have went.
What if God wanted you to go? Going to camps such as those change the way people view Christianity, I went to Wildwood a couple months ago... Life Changing, truly. I didn't even know anyone either, but i wasn't going for them.
I went to learn about God and to get away from all distractions.
You let your negative thoughts...feeling get in the way
Go into things that will lead you out of your spiritual comfort zone

My personal belief about all prayers:

God answers them all with "I've got a better plan."

But you'll only notice that if you're listening.

heyy again
ummm... so i was reading lamentations yesterday and it was there... and i remembered your story and what you're going through and and and... it's awesome because Lamentations chapter 3 is very related to what you are feeling.
Please read it asap Please tell me what you think

I heard a story once. Hope it helps.
There was a pastor of a local church called God Almighty Tabernacle. There had been a function at the church that night and everyone had gone home except for the pastor. He picked up the phone to call his wife and let her know that he was on his way. He dialed the number and the phone rung. Once, twice, three, four times it rung. It rung once more and the pastor hung up. Worried, he waited 30 seconds and dialed the number again. His wife answered after the second ring. "You scared me," he said, "y didnt you answer the phone?" "It never rung," she said. They talked about how strange it was that he would dial there number of 20 years incorrectly. He hung up, still confused, and headed home. Sunday morning passed without incident along with Sunday night. By this time the pastor had forgotten the entire thing. On Monday, the pastor was at the church again, preparing for Bible study. The phone rung. Without a second thought the pastor picked it up, gave the name of the church, and identified himself as the pastor. There was a teenage boy on the line. He began telling a story that would have turned the most cold hearted sinner into a preacher. "I lost my dad to cancer 5 years ago." he said. "My mother has been out of work for nearly a year with no signs of an upcoming job. One of my siblings is handicapped and requires expensive medication and alot of special care, so to pay for it we have had to cut back on even basic essentials. The baby is so thin you can see his ribs and we cant even afford to feed him. My friends supply me with drugs and alchohol to try and ease my pain. It has only made things worse. Saturday night i was coming off of a high. At my lowest point, not knowing where else to go, I was sitting on my bed with a gun in my hand and a note for my mom on my desk. I was crying and praying that if there was any hope, a God in Heaven, and a reason that he wanted me to stop, send me a sign. After an hour with no answer, I placed the gun in my hand and fired. The gun jammed. I fixed the problem and placed the gun to my head again. And a split second before i pulled the trigger the phone in my bedroom rung. When i looked at the caller ID i knew that it was the sign i had been waiting on. The caller ID said God Almighty...

I dont know what you have been going thru to get to this point but i can promise you that u are not alone. I have been to that point and even been completely given up on God. But i quickly found out that he hadnt given up on me. It may take another day, another week, another month or year, maybe even longer. My pastor prayed for his mom for 20 years before she came to the alter. Remember Job. He lost everything in 11 minutes. No where left to turn, he kept the faith and God restored it all 7 fold. Whatever you are going thru is happening for a reason. Just keep praying. I promise you, He is still listening. He will answer your prayers in time. A blessing is coming your way. He didnt give up on Job, nor the thief on the cross, nor me, nor you. I will most definately be praying for you.