– Prayer changes the mind of God about some things that He has intended to do?
– God is, in a sense, trapped in a genie’s lamp and has no choice but to do as we pray for?
– God is good because He answers our prayers? What if He doesn’t? Is He no longer good?

⁣These are questions that many of us might have but are too afraid or ashamed to ask. Or perhaps, we have them in our minds but we just shrug them aside because we don’t think it’s a big deal… until we go through some experience that makes us question the effectiveness of prayer or, worse, the power and goodness of God.

So let’s try to quickly unpack these questions one by one and see how we could make sense of each.⁣

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗱’𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱?⁣

When Abraham pleaded before God for the city of Sodom (Gen 18:16-33) negotiating with Him six times, and each time God would agree, was he changing God’s mind? When the church earnestly prayed for Peter while he was in prison (Acts 12:1-11), did God change His mind and decided to send an angel to rescue him though He didn’t really originally plan to do that? Was Jonah’s fear justified when “𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵” (Jonah 3:6-10) because they repented and prayed to Him?

To set things straight, God did say, “𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦” (Malachi 3:6). It can’t get any clearer than that. So how about those cases above (among many others) when God seemed to have changed His mind?

Psalm 139 makes it clear that God knows all things… not just the past and the present but even the future. He knows what we would pray for even before we do so (Matthew 6:8). When we pray for something, He’d already have known way, way ahead of time even before we have the need to pray for. This means that 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆, 𝗛𝗲’𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱.

Actually, to expand on God’s omniscience even more, prior to creation, He had already known that given certain situations, we would be praying (or not). And so, factoring in all of the prayers of everyone throughout all time, plus the consequences of the answers to those prayers and the free decisions that were to be made by every human being, along with what He wanted to accomplish according to His divine will, He had already taken all of those into consideration as He planned everything that would take place across history. Such a marvelous attribute of an all-knowing God!!! (𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚘𝚏 𝙶𝚘𝚍’𝚜 𝚘𝚖𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙻𝚞𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚎 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚊, 𝟷𝟻𝟹𝟻-𝟷𝟼𝟶𝟶)

Therefore, God does not consequently change His mind because we pray. These things had already been part of His great plan since the beginning of time that they would develop in certain ways, including the answers to our prayers.

However, this also means that if we were to NOT pray, God had also known that already even before all things began, and He had made it part of His considerations in planning everything that would take place. So, in other words, pray.

⁣𝗜𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀?⁣

Consider the following verses of Scripture:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴.” (Mark 11:24)

“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘥𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵.” (John 14:13-14)“𝘈𝘴𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶; 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥; 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶: 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬, 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮.” (1 John 5:14-15)

There are, of course, many other similar verses that we can find that say that God answers prayer. And indeed He does. But notwithstanding these passages, is He really obligated to do so, that is, does He always have to say yes to our prayers?

In the movie, “Bruce Almighty,” when Jim Carrey’s character who was supposedly have been given the powers of God, including answering prayers, he decided that he would say yes to the prayers of all people in the world. The result – absolute chaos. I’m very happy that God does not say yes to all our prayers. Otherwise, the ripple effect of all of those answered prayers will most likely develop into one big tumultuous situation. 𝗡𝗼, 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱.

Our most known example of this is no other than the Apostle Paul. He pleaded with God three times that God would remove his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) And at each time, God said no. He knew better than to say yes to Paul’s prayer. He had something better planned out. In the apostle’s weakness, His strength was made perfect. And what was Paul’s reaction? It wasn’t frustration or desperation or anger. No, he actually said that he would boast gladly in his weaknesses! Because, as God said, it would cause Christ’s power to rest in him. Now that’s an example to follow.

So does it mean that God’s promises about prayer are fallacious? Of course not! It just means that God’s wisdom, which we are not privy of, and His love for us, which we won’t be able to fathom, dictate that He does what is best, accordingly. Because not all of the prayers of people are beneficial. Not all prayers are in accordance with God’s wisdom. Not all prayers are aligned with His sovereign and moral will. Sometimes, we may think otherwise, but many times we could be mistaken.

It’s very important for us to remember that 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀. Even if He answers our prayers with a no, we still trust that He does so because of His great love and wisdom. ⁣

𝗜𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗜𝘀 𝗛𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱?⁣

We hear many people say “God is good” because He did this or that for them. Because He healed a loved one. Because He provided for a need. Because He protected them from disaster. God is good because He answers prayer! But, really?

What if God did not heal, would He still be good? If He did not provide, would He now be bad? What if He did not protect, would He be unloving? If He did not answer our prayers, would He no longer be good?

First, we need to clarify what we mean by “God is good.” For one thing, this “goodness” does not mean gracious or merciful or compassionate or kind (although those are all true about God). In fact, “good” is not a description of what God is. Rather, it is a definition of WHO God is. He is the very essence of goodness. He is THE good. Without Him, we would not even know what is good and, consequently, what is bad, because He is the very standard of what good is, the benchmark of morality. He IS goodness much in the same way that He IS love. No wonder Jesus said, “𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦.” (Mark 10:18)

Hence, His goodness is not defined by whether or not He elects to answer our prayers, heal a loved one, provide for our needs, or protect us from disaster. Often, the problem is that we view God’s goodness based on what He does. Particularly, what He does for us. But the truth is that Him being good really has nothing to do with us, because even without us, He would still remain to be good. He is, always has been, and always will be good. Also, 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁. If we are not, then that just means that, as is usually the case, we don’t understand what is good.

This is not to say that we are to rejoice in every evil or bad thing that happens in our lives. But when we pray, whether or not He says yes, we can and we ought to have the confidence to know and believe that God is truly good. Indeed, God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. So let us always “𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥; 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳!” (1 Chronicles 16:34)⁣

𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆…⁣

We have one more question to answer. Does prayer really change things?

With everything that we’ve discussed above, this would be a much easier one to answer. Or maybe not.

But to put it straight, 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀.

It was God who ordered things at the very beginning so that our prayers would be answered. It is God who has the sovereign prerogative whether or not our prayers should be answered according to His great love and wisdom. It is God who is the standard of goodness, which dictates His actions, including answering our prayers.

Therefore, it is God who changes things. Prayer is a means that He Himself has provided for us in order to express our dependence, reliance, and trust upon Him, which He considers (or has considered) as a vital factor for how things are ordered over time.

So let’s “𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨… 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 pt.)