When members of opposing teams in a game all pray for victory, which team wins? ~
Does God take sides or care which team wins? Should the losing team not bother praying anymore because it didn’t help? 😂🤣
SW-User
Petitionary prayer will almost always have such conundrums!
The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, in his "Talks of Instruction" speaks of "True Obedience":-
In true obedience there should be no ‘I want this or that to happen’ or ‘I want this or that thing’ but only a pure going out of what is our own. And therefore in the very best kind of prayer that we can pray there should be no ‘give me this particular virtue or way of devotion’ or ‘yes, Lord, give me yourself or eternal life’, but rather ‘Lord, give me only what you will and do, Lord, only what you will and in the way that you will’. This kind of prayer is as far above the former as heaven is above earth. And when we have prayed in this way, then we have prayed well, having gone out of ourselves and entered God in true obedience. But just as true obedience should have no ‘I want this’, neither should it ever hear ‘I don’t want’, for ‘I don’t want’ is pure poison for all true obedience. As St Augustine says: ‘The true servant of God does not desire to be told or to be given what they would like to hear or see, for their prime and highest wish is to hear what is most pleasing to God.
He then speaks of the best kind of prayer as flowing from a free mind.
The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, in his "Talks of Instruction" speaks of "True Obedience":-
In true obedience there should be no ‘I want this or that to happen’ or ‘I want this or that thing’ but only a pure going out of what is our own. And therefore in the very best kind of prayer that we can pray there should be no ‘give me this particular virtue or way of devotion’ or ‘yes, Lord, give me yourself or eternal life’, but rather ‘Lord, give me only what you will and do, Lord, only what you will and in the way that you will’. This kind of prayer is as far above the former as heaven is above earth. And when we have prayed in this way, then we have prayed well, having gone out of ourselves and entered God in true obedience. But just as true obedience should have no ‘I want this’, neither should it ever hear ‘I don’t want’, for ‘I don’t want’ is pure poison for all true obedience. As St Augustine says: ‘The true servant of God does not desire to be told or to be given what they would like to hear or see, for their prime and highest wish is to hear what is most pleasing to God.
He then speaks of the best kind of prayer as flowing from a free mind.
Longpatrol · 31-35, M
Mindful · 56-60, F
Exactly why people should just enjoy what they do! Just Thank God for life or look for ways to make our world a better place for ourselves and others.