My first post - Praying with an ultimatum / deadline...?

[InspiredinLA]

I know that there are some people out there who pray to God in a way that imposes a deadline or ultimatum and i'm curious to know if this is biblical?

As an arbitrary example: "I am seeking your will, God. If it is your will for me to move to New York City, please show me a sign by the end of this month."

If this person prays this prayer and then receives a sign of some sort affirming a move to NYC, they feel they are IN God's will by doing so.

BUT, if they do NOT receive a sign, they feel it is NOT in God's will to move to NYC.


I've always thought that this sort of prayer falls in the territory of "testing" God. How can we say something is not in the will of God because He doesn't show us the signs we pray to see, by the date we hope to see them?

Is it biblical to ask God to reveal his will to us by a made up date/time?

It would seem that it would be different to pray for something like "Please provide a new job for me before my mortgage is due next month." because A) there is no question of having a job being part of God's will. And B) because the date in question (next month) is a predetermined date of need by a worldly and uncontrollable third party (the bank).

Another good example would be a girl or guy praying to God something like "Father, I want to marry my boyfriend/girlfriend, but I'm unsure if He/She is your will for me in marriage. please show me the signs that my boyfriend/girlfriend is the right person for me to marry, by May 31st, 2 weeks from today. If I don't see the signs by then, I will assume this person is not in your will for me."

I'm very curious to hear what you all have to say about these kinds of prayers. I've not been able to find any discussion on such a thing anywhere online.

 

[Phinehas2]

Yes, if one hears from God that a need which has a deadline will be met.
Ask and you shall receive

 

[Criada]

I don't think it's a good idea in general to give God a deadline - if we believe that His timing is perfect, then we should trust Him to get it right!
However, there are Biblical instances of people setting a 'deadline' for God... most notably Gideon with his fleece, which he asked God to make first wet then dry by the following morning.
I don't think that ideally we should need to ask God to perform to our deadlines... but out of His enormous grace towards us, He does sometimes answer such prayers.

 

[InspiredinLA]

MUCH thanks for citing a specific example from scripture.

 

[Phinehas2]

Jesus said to His disciples, ask and you will receive. If there is a need to be met then the need might well carry a deadline.

 

[2ndRateMind]

I object to this idea of God as a being whose cosmic purpose is to dish out worldly favours. To add a deadline to such a request seems to me to compound the insult.

Fact is, there are plenty of people who deserve - one might say, need - worldly favours, such as the sick, and the hungry. If people spent less time praying for God to give them the things they want - Oh, yes, and within a week, please - and more time getting down to helping out where help is truly wanted, why, they might find they didn't need that urgent desire after all. And it would certainly bring Jesus' vision for the world a step nearer to reality.

Best wishes, 2RM

 

[Phinehas2]

2ndRateMind,
Your worldview is at odds with God’s. Jesus taught His disciples to seek first the Kingdom and needs will be met, but He also said
Matthew 21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
It is not about wants but about needs. … and yes there are believers in the world who lack though greed of other believers.

 

[brinny]

God reads the heart. And responds to what is in the heart. He reads the intents and purposes of each heart. Jacob, is essence, challenged God Himself. He told him he will not let Him go until He blesses him. he was desperate. God is all he had. He went to Him in his desperation, which is what we are told to do. God read jacob's heart. He allowed Jacob to wrestle with Him. He also re-named Jacob, calling him Israel.

We go, unfettered, with our raw hearts open before our God, just as Jacob did. He's all we got. Who else do we have?

 

[2ndRateMind]

2ndRateMind,
Your worldview is at odds with God’s. Jesus taught His disciples to seek first the Kingdom and needs will be met, but He also said
Matthew 21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
It is not about wants but about needs. … and yes there are believers in the world who lack though greed of other believers.

Well, we all talk rubbish sometimes. Even Jesus, I understand, blasted a tree because it didn't bear, out of season, the fruit He craved.

Fact is, the way to answer prayers is to do the work required. Prayer - communion with God - is a way to understand that. This idea that prayer is an alternative to a lottery win for 'true-believers' - Oh yes, and by the end of the month - is a travesty of the Christian message.

Best wishes, 2RM.

EDIT In case I may be misunderstood, let me adapt JFK in an attempt to clarify. Christianity is not about what God can do for you. Christianity is about what you can do for others. That was Jesus' attitude as He went to the cross, and we would all do well to emulate it. /EDIT

 

[Phinehas2]

2ndRateMind,

Well, we all talk rubbish sometimes. Even Jesus, I understand, blasted a tree because it didn't bear, out of season, the fruit He craved.

Nope Jesus didn’t talk rubbish, you just haven’t understood what He meant.

Fact is, the way to answer prayers is to do the work required. Prayer - communion with God - is a way to understand that.

Fact is that’s what I said, if God will meet a need with a deadline then He will, but Jesus said ask.

This idea that prayer is an alternative to a lottery win for 'true-believers' - Oh yes, and by the end of the month - is a travesty of the Christian message.

Yes, but that’s not asking for needs to be met that’s asking for personal wants to be satisfied

EDIT In case I may be misunderstood, let me adapt JFK in an attempt to clarify. Christianity is not about what God can do for you. Christianity is about what you can do for others. That was Jesus' attitude as He went to the cross, and we would all do well to emulate it. /EDIT

Christianity is about what God has done for us, and what we can do for others. Unless one can understand what Jesus Christ has done for us one cannot do anything of much use for others. Without knowing what God has done, its humanism.

 

[ebia]

Well, we all talk rubbish sometimes. Even Jesus, I understand, blasted a tree because it didn't bear, out of season, the fruit He craved.

Sorry to pick up the tangent, but its pretty damn obvious in Mark, if a little less obvious in the othes, that the fig-tree action is an enacted parable about the Temple, not a fit of pique.

 

[ebia]

To get back to the question, I don't think its a good idea to tell God how he must answer prayer - all prayer needs to leave open to God how he will answer it. Telling God how he must answer has stepped over the line from praying in faith to succumbing to Satan's temptations.

 

[Phinehas2]

Jesus says ask and recieve whatever one asks for in prayer. What people think seems to be putting their own lack of faith in Jesus promise. If there is a need pray to hear from God whether this is going to be met in time. If the need comes from assurance that this is God's prupose the need will be met. I have seen God provide enough to know this is true.

 

[brinny]

In desperation, we may give God an ultimatum. He sees the heart. He responds to what is in the heart.

Example:

Someone drowning, and crying out "God, if You don't save me now, I'm gonna die!"

 

[Archivist]

To get back to the question, I don't think its a good idea to tell God how he must answer prayer - all prayer needs to leave open to God how he will answer it. Telling God how he must answer has stepped over the line from praying in faith to succumbing to Satan's temptations.

Agreed. God always answers prayers, but sometimes the answer is "wait" and sometimes the answer is "no".

 

[Phinehas2]

Agreed. God always answers prayers, but sometimes the answer is "wait" and sometimes the answer is "no".

Yes! thats right.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

If you can pray to God with a deadline in mind, and your faith isn't going to be shipwrecked if it doesn't get answered, then I guess its okay for you.

But people are all different.

For some people, if they pray with a deadline in mind and it doesn't get answered, their faith might get badly injured. Those people should probably not pray with a deadline in mind.

 

[ebia]

Agreed. God always answers prayers, but sometimes the answer is "wait" and sometimes the answer is "no".

And very often the answer is "yes, but not in the way you think/wanted".

 

[chingchang]

Well, we all talk rubbish sometimes. Even Jesus, I understand, blasted a tree because it didn't bear, out of season, the fruit He craved.

Fact is, the way to answer prayers is to do the work required. Prayer - communion with God - is a way to understand that. This idea that prayer is an alternative to a lottery win for 'true-believers' - Oh yes, and by the end of the month - is a travesty of the Christian message.

Best wishes, 2RM.

EDIT In case I may be misunderstood, let me adapt JFK in an attempt to clarify. Christianity is not about what God can do for you. Christianity is about what you can do for others. That was Jesus' attitude as He went to the cross, and we would all do well to emulate it. /EDIT

Well said 2RM! I couldn't agree more.

CC

 

[chingchang]

Agreed. God always answers prayers, but sometimes the answer is "wait" and sometimes the answer is "no".

Why do the answers ALWAYS seem to be "wait" or "no"? Furthermore..."wait" is "no" relative to my current need/want. We don't know the answer is "wait" at the time of the need/want...we don't know that is was "wait" until YEARS later. But...things are bound to change with time...so was that really God answering your prayer YEARS and YEARS later...or simply change with time? I give God credit for answering my prayers...but how do I know if it is God or simply chance? He's not answering any of my prayers with miracles...so there is really no way of knowing....

Just sayin',
CC