Does Prayer Work? Does LOA work? Part I

The other day, I read an article from some poor, discouraged soul who exclaimed, “the law of attraction doesn’t work!” It seems she had been trying to attract a husband and wasn’t seeing any results. Shortly after that, I was reading another blog and found a young lady who was discouraged about prayer and stated that she doesn’t believe it works. She had been praying for a job but there was none in sight for her. After several months of praying about it, she concluded that prayer doesn’t work. I’ve never really thought about praying in faith and the law of attraction being different subjects, but evidently there are some who do not see a connection. When I first came across “The Secret,” the first thing I realized is that the term “secret” was simply a marketing angle, which I think worked great. There really isn’t a secret. The Bible has been telling folks for millenniums to “Have faith in God,” (Mark 11:22) and “What things so ever you desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:24). I believe that although the message is the same (“like attracts like” or “ask and it shall be given unto you”) the difference in the Bible version of the message and the law of attraction version of the message is simply the platform from which it is delivered. The Bible is obviously coming from a spiritual viewpoint and the law of attraction comes from a scientific angle. No matter how you look at it, the message is the same. So it comes as no surprise that people from both sides of the fence are facing a similar issue – sometimes it appears that it just doesn’t work! In the Christian domain, unanswered prayers are usually whisked away with a simple – “it wasn’t God’s will” excuse. After all, who are we to claim to know the will of God? We are mere mortals and His understanding is far above ours. If we pray for something, no matter how much faith we have, it was obviously not what He wanted. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve always had an issue with this concept. Now don’t get me wrong, I used the excuse plenty of times. But it never felt right in my heart. When I would search the scriptures for a better answer as to why my prayer didn’t get answered, all I could find was more and more evidence that the culprit was doubt or unbelief, or “little faith.” Consider the following: James 1: 6-8: Let him ask in FAITH, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Romans 14:23: And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of FAITH; for whatsoever is not of FAITH is sin. Mark 11: 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; and SHALL NOT DOUBT in his heart, but shall BELIEVE that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Every time the disciples failed to do the things that Jesus did, he responded the same: “O ye of little faith.” I don’t recall a time when he said, “you prayed for something I really didn’t want.” The only scripture that comes even remotely close is: James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. But look at the verse just before it – James 4:2:rnYe lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. If you put those two verses in context and in the right order, it basically says (my paraphrase) you lust after stuff and don’t get it, so you kill because you want it so bad, but you still don’t get it. You fight for it and go to war for it, but you don’t get it because you don’t ask for it. Then when you ask for it, you still don’t get it because you are asking only to satisfy your lust! It sounds like he is trying to explain that you can have what you ask for- but, because you are lusting for it (which is a huge indication of NO FAITH! – How can you lust for something you know you have easy access to?) Because you are going about getting it in the wrong (negative) manner, you don’t get it, even when you finally just ask for it. In other words, there is no faith but an abundance of selfishness and negativity which keeps you from getting what you want. Matthew tells a great story about how Jesus got up one morning and was on his way back to the city and became hungry. He saw a fig tree and went over to have a snack, but there was no fruit on it, only leaves. So Jesus told the tree, “May you never produce fruit again.” And the tree withered up, right in front of all the disciples. They were amazed! So they asked him, “how did you do that?” I wonder if Jesus was getting tired of having to explain the concept of faith over and over, but once again he told them that they too could curse a fig tree if only they had faith and NO doubt: Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:21, 22) Now, I wonder. Is this only true if God has a specific will for you to curse a particular fig tree or move a particular mountain? Did God send Jesus to curse that fig tree and make it die? Does he have to will it, in order for us to be able to do it? Jesus certainly didn’t explain it to be that complicated. He simply said, if you believe and doubt not. Of course the law makers of that day would have probably added a few stipulations: You can curse the tree only if God wills it, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in cities that begin with a C, D, or W and only if it’s the variety that we don’t like. As you can tell, I think the message of Christ is pretty simple and straightforward. He told us that we would be able to do all the miracles that he did - walk on water, raise the dead, heal the sick, walk through walls, and of course turn water into wine (I’d like to hear someone explain how that one fits into God’s divine will). So either the prayer of faith works or none of the Scriptures can be trusted. Either the law of attraction works or none of our scientific beliefs are valid. However, something has to explain why sometimes we don’t see results whether we are praying in faith or manifesting through the law of attraction. I think I have an idea of what it could be. Look for part II of this post for more information -