Do you believe in the power of prayer in America? And for America?
150394
Shouldn't we be praying for the whole world?
699282
Great point! In fact, if America is such a God-Loving country, which I believe it is, why not say "God bless the world" considering the world is the most un-Godly place of all, not America. I think you just changed the way Im going to speak for now on, thanks!
875491
I am sure that there are lots of people praying to win the lottery right now...and most of them are buying tickets.\n\nSo...\n\nyour question is "Does prayer work?"\n\nAnd...\n\nmy answer is yes...\n\nI have had specific and even miraculous answers to prayer.  But I don't recall one of this type.\n\nIt seems God has established some laws to the universe, which are seldom, if ever violated.  \n\nEven Jesus got turned down once in the garden of Gethsemane. \n\nI think the LottoPrayer would actually be: "God, allow me to happy and successful, and have enough to share."\n\nI think...\n\nif you pray that prayer...you WILL get an answer.\n\nGod bless.
417369
Many people do not understand prayer; a large majority of people pray selfishly, so, when they preceive their prayer not answered immediately they feel like "god has forsaken me", or that prayer does not work.\n\nPersonally, I beleive in the power and strength of prayer. However, I also understand god may not always give me what I want but always what I need.\n\nAs a person who believes in the power of prayer, I included those who don't in my prayers with a hope that one day they will understand.
401224
It is the responsibility of everyone who is a believer to pray for those who govern over us. Th bible states that there is no authority in existence that is not placed there by God. There are multiple insights in how God works through government in the first and second book of Kings. It is important to have our trust in God since the outcome of our prayers "let it be thy will" will result in just that. The right decisions are not always aligned with our expectations and this is where we must increase in faith, by knowing that God is in Control and utilizes even evil acts by humans towards the good of those who trust in him.
851275
What a wondeful petition!  I say this prayer with you ....and God does hear.  Amen.\n\nGod Bless,\n\nSue
1008312
i am more afraid of the fact we have run-away legislation that is removing our civil liberties.\nWe have people of many faiths in government and the one thing i know about religion is none of them get along.\nI have noticed a trend towards more co-operation though among the different faiths in electing politicians.\nRELIGION is under a microscope these days and slowly more facts are pointing to it being silly superstition rooted in fear and the un-known.\nTHE bible or books of all religions include people that have lived around the times people write stories including there profits and unless your profit is the ruler or king of the land no information exists to support there existence\nPilgrimages did not begin till well after the stories were told and only slowly grew over hundreds of years .PEOPLE did not begin going to the site of jesus tomb or crucifixion for over 200 years.\nTHEY (religious leaders) are beginningto scramble to hold on to beleivers.churches are falling into ruin in america and new mega churches are springing up .THESE churches have seating for 10 and 20 thousand members and if you doubt there political involvement you have not noticed whats happenong in america.THEY have many political agends and community involvement at  the highest levels .THESE people once motivated buy there leader or politician become campaign advocates making calls walking precincts and turning out votes for the people choosen for them by there leaders.\nTHESE choosen politicians are as blind as a bat to the needs of americans and serve only the mega churches values this does not represent america but only about 1% of the community that is very active.\nIF democrats ever want to be elected they need a strong orginized base like these mega churches provide for consevatives.\nREMEMBER if i can get you in a room and tell you jesus said so that one hour sermon just got turned into a political ralley if given in a mega church.\nreligion is on its way out in america this is its last flash and appears  bright but the light will fade out quickly.\nWE can not ignor the impact of this and will need to remove and repair some laws written during this time over the last twenty years.\nRELIGION is becoming a thing of the past , only religious leaders of the catholic church , there politicians, support the mexicans here who just so happen to be predominently catholic.\nBUT my friend bush is attacking the press for giving him such a hard time for 8 months when he took (TOOK) office and had no support for anything and went on vacation till 9-11.NOW bush beleives he was meant to be the leader of the new crusades against fundimental religious leaders who have declared war on all christians world wide.THEY SEE our bible as wrong and the peoplle following the devil so bushes responce is bring it on and he will track them down to the ends of the earth never giving-up.\nHAD we not tried to change there way of live and not brought western ideas and crimes with us they would have ignored us but 40 years of interferance in there way of life lead to this point.I fear idiots like bush and a religious people but now we see them all for what they are and soon america will evolve beyond mystical and fear driven populations concerned more about personel gain and profit then religion.
675583
I'm sorry your tired of the US. Does that mean your one of the saps responsible for 911? You should take your racial hatred somewhere else. There is nothing wrong with prayer and you have a very narrow view of it in the first place. Get an education so you aren't debating without any wits.
888075
Pray with and for others.
938045
Dear Vachoo,\n\nThank you for asking!\nI believe a whole lot in the power of prayer.   I don't just mean "good thoughts" but prayer to the awesome uncreated Creator of the universe.  \n\nIt isn't my prayer that has power but the One that I'm praying to.\n\nSo many of my prayers have been answered in the most wonderful ways and yet sometimes I get so bogged down by what I see going on in the world that I don't pray.\n\nOne of the most dramatic answers I got to prayer came nearly 15 years ago.  I worked in the internal audit department at a bank and things were not going well in the economy.  The bank had been excellent in residential real estate but Share Holders were demanding that we do commercial real estate where the big money was.  After a few years things started floundering.  There was very little leadership from our leaders and then my husband filed for divorce.\n\nI could barely even twiddle my thumbs let alone function.  One Sunday morning before going to church I knelt by my bed and started praying, "Lord, I just want ..."  I didn't even have the words to finish the prayer.  I just knew I wanted the PAIN to be gone.  I believe the Holy Spirit finished my prayer for me "... to read the Bible from cover-to-cover.  Will You arrange the time and the money?"  \n\nTwo days later my whole department got laid off and I got 15 weeks of severance pay.  Even though the economy was not good my co-workers actually found much more satisfying jobs and I spent my time reading The Daily Walk Bible (that was also an answered prayer).  It was so good I couldn't put it down and I finished it in 90 days.\n\nYes, I definitely believe in the power of prayer when one prays to the heavenly Father in Jesus' Name.\n\nEdit: Nowadays I pray "Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit and I weren't praying for the time and money to read the Bible just once."  \n\nWith Elijah on Mount Carmel in mind (see 1 Kings 18) I've been praying for a way to read the Bible with small groups of people aiming for a total of 850 people (450 + 400).
203582
Maybe long enough to get grand children.\n\nBtw, why you Americans use the phrase "God bless you!" so much?? I just don't find it necessary to say it in every turn... But then again I'm not religious at all.
654669
Absolutely not. \n\nLet me put it this way. Who's religious belief is right? \n\nIf you can answer that question, then we can have prayer in schools. If not, then you can begin to figure out why there is no prayer in school. \n\nSee, if the state begins to determine what prayers can be prayed in public school, then the state makes an endorsement of a particular religion. From there, the state gets more involved in the politics of religion. \n\nNow, the last thing you want is the government telling you how you should or shouldn't pray, right? \n\nLet me go a step further. Let's say we go with the fact that 90% of Americans believe in God. So, you say "Hey, we can just pray to a generic god. Then nobody's discriminated against." (Except the 10%, of course.)\n\nExcept, praying to a generic god is a sin. You pray to the one true god, otherwise, you're really ticking god off. Besides, Christians are pretty fond of Jesus and would get really ticked at keeping him out of prayers, don't you think?\n\nSo, we have to make a choice. Who's religion is the right one? Well, Christians outnumber everybody else by a wide margin in the US, guess we'll make Christiantiy the de facto religion of the US. (85% of believers are Christians of some form or another in the US. So we take 85% of the 90%)\n\nExcept, which version of Christianity is the right one? Do we have Catholic mass? Do we have have Baptismal hymnals? What about those who refuse to engage in the prayer? Will there be repercussions? (You bet there will be by those who do pray versus those who don't.)\n\nOK. You might say I'm complicating the problem, but I'm not. Essentially, we have a separation of church and state to avoid internal conflict in the country over who's religious belief is the correct one. We also, don't want a government telling us who to worship and how to worship. (Living in a religion dominated society is called, theocracy. See the Middle East for what our lives would be like if we had a church dominated government.)\n\nKeeping prayer out of schools and government allows us to live in a country where we have religious freedom. The freedom to worship as we choose of our own free will.\n\nIn other words nobody is penalized for not being of the "correct" faith. Everybody has the freedom to worship without government oversight and being bullied by social pressures. Nobody is at risk of the majority telling them how to live. \n\nAmerica is about freedom. Freedom from government endorsed religion is a good thing.\n\nHope that makes sense.
742664
Nothing wrong with praying for our leaders.\n\nPrayer helps in many ways, plus I'm sure they would appreciate it!
784746
Don't underestimate the power of prayer.
658086
Not neccessarily.  It is more of a well-wish than a prayer.
558519
i would pray -it might help
463784
Absolutely.  Prayer is nonsensical and completely ineffective.  Why would anyone think it worth praying for something to a god who (supposedly) always knows best?  Why would said god ever give someone what they pray for if it wasn't already what he wanted in the first place?