Do you believe prayer can change this world?
I heard of a fantastic experience in Africa and this week we will pray
together with my friends and readers for the Saint Joseph’s Party on
March 19th.
We will pray to help to improve the state of the world. Some believe
that prayer is too abstract – but I would like to hear your opinion on
this.
Thank you
I stopped praying. I used to pray out of guilt, like I owed it to God to pray even if I didn’t mean it. I felt like my life was a mess but it would become an even bigger mess if I didn’t pray. It also felt hypocritical to pray mostly when I’m in ‘trouble’.
Prayer involves telling God how great he is, all the wonderful things he’s done (like he doesn’t know), how we’re not worthy of him and letting him know that we’re forever at his mercy. That paints a picture of a very insecure God. If there was a human being that needed to be talked to the way we talk to God, what would we think of him/her?
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yes i have heard too…prayers can change the world..and people too….it can change how a person thinks,it can change what a person belives in…it can change the whole personlaity of a person….
but it depends whether prayers are answered or not….
unanswered prayers too bring changes…more negetively though….
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hello Paulo and friends,
i am a big believer of prayer. i never give up on something i really want so i guess God always took pity on me and answer my every prayer.
thank you my father in heaven. love
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I don’t know what to believe when it comes to pray together.
Sometimes it seems to have given miracles - less murders in a big town, someone who healed from death, someone who got the exact exam-questions they had prayed for.
Other times someone have been ill and although all his friends and family met to pray he still died, although douzins of people meet to pray to heal the earth - the pollution just continue to grow.
There is power in praying, no doubt about it,
it does create a stronger focus on your task in front of you.
Prayers and religion is in my culture something very private and personal. To pray in a group is for me still awkward.
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I think that prayer can change the WORLD if a lot of people pray for that. If the prayer aims for sth. big, e.g. changing the world, I think a certain critical mass of people has to work together.One person’s prayer can change sth. in the person’s environment but if everyone prays for betterment, betterment shall come. however, I think this is not the only factor. Also the belief plays an important role. I remember a place in the bible which says “If your belief was as big as a nutshell then you could easily move the mountain.” So also one “believer” might be able to change.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhu2B6r7ZSY
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcXtHXaaGuc
singing together is another possibilty
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I had a wonderful sight - seeing the sun pulsating and “dancing” on that very same day! Yes I belive (added by Mobile using Mippin)
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Não acredito que a oração isoladamente tenha o poder de mudar alguma coisa, mas sim a fé, as atitudes corretas e o comprometimento com aquilo que cremos. Sendo assim, se acreditarmos que adorar um totem, meditar silenciosamente, ou contemplar a natureza, podem trazer mudanças, assim será.
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I believe pray can change the world!
Sou brasileiro, tenho 16 anos e tenho todos os seus livros.
Paulo Coelho você é o melhor escritor na minha opinião.
Muito obrigado por escrever e espalhar toda a sua sabedoria!
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Yes when person starts praying it mean he has understood the meaning of his life, human birth is very important and is to get moksha (end of life and death cycle) and when person pray it means he is actually with god enjoying his most important duty that is prayer for his lord and for him nothing is more important than this and that gives him freedom from fear of failure in his other activities and he can do it all the way in name of god and that adds real success to his life, prayer is easiest way to worship god and that definitely change the life.
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As I said, I will get back on this issue,
Here is what I think … Now wait,
This is so funny, why on earth my opinions would ever count ? Why should anyone care ?
Many of us from top to bottom have given similar answers, I was just browsing all your responses. (Please do not get mad on me.)
“I believe….
or
“I do not believe…
This is so funny, what is your believe and not believe has got to do with that entity which even does not exits in real form?
You pray, you shout and you cry all of these are normal human sufferings. Most of the times you pray simply because you are not happy or you want something in your life or may be you have developed a habit of praying for good. But again,
Why are you following the tradition of forefathers? What it has got to do with trust of God or no God?
We live in world where everything is temporary, there is nothing immortal. Even the existence of the place where we are living is bound to get destroyed oneday. (Do not get afraid)
Let me give you one simple example,
Mr. A is very bad man and he has decided to kill Mr.B for some reason. Mr. A has put gun in the head of Mr. B and he is soon going to shoot him. Mr. B is very religious man and he started praying. Now, do you think some ‘religious energy’ will avoid the incident not to happen?
What is the final result of this event?
Does your prayer helped?
The result was Mr. B was shot and he is no more in this world.
Either you pray or not pray, it does not matter. Only thing that matters is your devotion and dedication to something in life and with nature.
Please do not get mad, I am not for or against the Praying.
Well, I must stop now. Maybe I have to quit my day today.
For those who like praying,
Happy praying and God blesses you !
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2009/03/19/saint-joseph-the-worker-by-pilar/#comment-180331
For those who do not like praying,
________________________(Fill in the blank)
Believe in what you are believing (& God blesses you too…)
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I believe that nobody should underestimate the power of prayer,
it’s one of the best things on earth.
God indeed listens to a simple and sincere prayer.
I believe that it could make the world better.
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Eu acredito no amor, eu acredito na fé e acredito que orar, rezar, falar com Deus com sinceridade e amor pode sim mudar o mundo. Acredito que pensamentos de amor e felicidade, atraem amor e felicidade. E acredito que se cada um fizer sua parte, mudando seus pensamentos e sentimentos e com isso transformando o seu ambiente, podemos mudar muita coisa…
Um grande abraco e fiquem todos com Deus…
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Prayer I believe is the time when one fills ones heart with a positive energy. a certain goodness….and purity….one may ask for something…say sorry….say thanks…..but its feeling of promise that someone listens……and can make anything happen…..
I once read a small piece…..it said of the “experience of God”…….one morning a woman was working in her kitchen…..peeling oranges……in a moment a waft of air rose the fragrance of the oranges up….and in the sunbeam streaming into her window, she felt God.
I guess prayer is as simple as that - a good feeling….a feeling of goodness.
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I do not see how prayers alone can change the world. Prayers, as it has been passed down by generations, merely act as an expression of one’s deep beliefs. In this era of fanatical religious beliefs, prayers in the traditional form should be avoided with.
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olá Sr. Paulo:
Orar, rezar, é para mim uma forma de comunicação, não tanto na sua forma ritmada do “Avé Maria” , mas através do que se quer transmitir . Eu rezo, conversando com Deus, com Nossa Senhora de Fátima, contando minhas tristezas, pedindo apoio, agradecendo…sei que o não faço tanto quanto devería , mas se em alguma coisa é importanto, é nisso mesmo, COMUNICA, obriga-me a falar o que por vezes só penso….
A importância que tem , reside em cada um, por isso, terá SEMPRE importância e fará a diferença
um abraço
marisa
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Chant the holy name of The Lord - it is the way to Him and to the perfection of your life and all world.
Hare Krishna!
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Uma energia pura. Se eu pudesse traduzir esta noite, eu diria: can you stop the time now?
Não tenho palavras. Eu vou pra sempre agradecer por hoje.
Obrigada!!!
MARG,
Ca
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The prayer is the only existing MATERIAL opportunity that links us directly to God. There are no other mediators: you-your prayer-God.
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I’d prefer to pray for God/The Source/Spirit- to change me to accept the circumstances around me. To evolve. Otherwise I don’t grow, because I’m expecting the circumstances to be beholden to me, who like most people, is transient in thought. I have difficulty in this because my inclination through years of indoctrination is to pray to change the circumstances of myself and those around me. (Including those I don’t even know.) Sometimes this is beneficial, sometimes not. Depends on the circumstances.
Even Jesus Christ thought his prayers were not heard on the cross quoting Psalm 22: “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?”
To which the priests in the audience responded, “He calls for Elias let us see if Elias answers him.”
He died soon after.
I hope your party is a great success. Those are some lucky readers. :)
-C
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When prayers are out of love and come from our open hearts and minds, they can really change everything for the better, including the whole world. God listens and fulfills our prayers when we are sincere, want something very much and also believe in God’s absolute power. Miracles happen all the time but some people (those who believe prayers are too abstract ;o) )need more time to see and acknowledge them.
Have a wonderful time dear Paulo and friends at the party celebrating Saint Joseph and also joy, light, music, love, life!
May God bless the whole world now and forever! May we all be worthy of receiving divine bliss! :o)
Lots of love,
Carmen Larisa
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Hola todos,
Prayer for me is something very instinctive as if when I’m fallin’ down there’s a rope I can take to avoid to crash.
So in moments of great dispair, words come to my mind, old and forgotten words learnt during childhood that reappears suddenly.
maybe that ” when I found myself in time of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me”:)
Let it be!
God bless you
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HELLO.IS SO WONDERFUL YOUR IDEA,IS AN IMPORTANT DATE INDEED.I FEEL SAFER THINKING YOU AND OTHERS DO PRAY FOR OUR WORLD,FOR US.I TRY TO TAKE PART IN MY WAY,I WILL PRAY THINKING TO JOIN YOUR GROUP.GOD BLESS THIS WORLD AND US!
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I think that prayer is NEVER a waste of time; however, I would add to that that prayer which is directed explicitly and directly at “changing the world,” either on the whole or in part, is probably not the most effective use of the gift of conversing with God.
When we ask God to change the world around us, or even to change a specific situation in the world, and yet we do not ask to know what our part is in this change we request, then we have not lived up to our end of the bargain. We want God to do for us, but we do not ask what we can do for God. This is not good.
I read the prayer to St. Joseph posted on your blog today, Paulo, and I note that it is very different from a mere “prayer for God to change the world.” This is a personal prayer, asking for God’s guidance in showing us how we each can work to change the world around us.
First, it is addressed to Saint Joseph, “model of all who are devoted to labor,” which implies that those who speak this prayer are prepared to devote themselves to labor as well. It asks for “grace” (to work conscientiously) - grace, not favors. Not “please give me this, God,” or “please do that,” but “please help me to do what I need to do to bring about the changes I seek.” Furthermore, there is a certain consciousness, here in this prayer that, of the fact that we already have what we need to complete this task - a conscious recognition that we all have certain God-given talents and divinely-inspired gifts that we can “employ” and “develop” to achieve the aim of “changing the world.” These gifts are, after all, an “honor” and not a burden placed upon us. And finally, the prayer asks that the petitioner be granted the ability to keep an ever-conscious “account…of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success.”
This is the perfect prayer, I think, as it places the responsibility of changing the world not upon God but upon us, each and every one, as individuals. We can pray all we want to, asking God to “change the world” and the state of affairs in it, but until we recognize our own individual responsibility as well as our own monumental power in this effort, we will see no real change at all.
Yesterday I rented the space to open a new yoga studio here, nearby in a small town. There are no other yoga studios, basically, within a hundred mile radius. Most of the people here have heard of yoga, if at all, only vaguely. It is a “mysterious, exotic” affair in their eyes. After moving back here to this rural region of Texas, it took me three full years to decide to open the studio, although the thought was in my head even when I came here. I was so concerned that the people here just “wouldn’t be ready” for something so new and progressive as yoga. I think I likely even uttered a prayer or two, something to the effect of: “God, couldn’t you just put me somewhere else, anywhere else, where people are more open-minded?” and secondly, “God, couldn’t you just change this community a little - speed up progress just a bit - so that I wouldn’t have to feel so isolated here.”
Well, over the past several months something has changed - me! Something within me shifted, moving my focus away from “them” toward “me.” I started questioning what I could do to bring about the changes I seek. So, maybe this is not the “perfect” environment in which to open a yoga studio. But I moved here from Miami, and Miami IS the perfect environment, and yet what I saw there was too many yoga studios, all competing for the same clients. A market where yoga is in high demand, but a saturated market nonetheless. And I’m not a very advanced teacher of yoga, so there I would never be in a position to have very much to offer. Here, however, where most people have never taken a yoga class in their lives, even the little knowledge and experience I have might be able to make a real impact in some people’s lives.
So, what I have learned or come to understand from this: I am in this place where yoga has never been introduced at all, and although my gifts and talents might seem limited on the larger scale, here they could prove quite effectual in producing the changes I would wish to see in this small community. So, although the environment itself is not “perfect” and I, in my talents and skills, am certainly not “perfect,” in a way, we might just be perfectly suited to one another. And that union might just bring about some small ripple in this larger pond we call the world - the world we pray to change.
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Prayer changes things. :) I’ve experienced it happen many times.
I also believe that there is strength in numbers, especially with prayer. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” - Matthew 18:19-20
If anyone’s interested, I have a blog dedicated to move people to a deep and sincere prayerful life. http://www.bemovedtopray.blogspot.com/ Just a personal mission of mine, nothing big but I hope to encourage others. :)
God bless!
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Prayers are not abstract, they are very concrete, because they come from the bottom of our heart and soul - like singing.
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Olá Paulo,
Sim eu acredito no poder da oracão….
O homem sem fé não para em pé…
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It is so long since i wrote. I was sort of praying or asking many questions. It was not that there is pain or crisis but -a wonder. I get into this mode and wonder about life.I opened this blog without much forethought. I found peace and energy by just getting togather in the blog. Prayer is a longing of the heart. It is to create rhythm in our life.It is discovering our inner form which is uniform with the rest of the world. May be this form will create more harmory all around and create critical mass of energy to smoothen rough edges of everyone. Prayers creates harmony in the universe. This harmony will inturn effect the lives of millions in a positive way. When an iron particle is rubbed in single direction it will gain polarity and act like magnet. when a ordinary material becomes magneized, it will become very powerful. The same effect can be got by prayer in humans. Humans will become more energized and a group of people praying will have synergistic effect. The energy level of the group will increase in geometric proportion. This energy can change the world !!! This energy can create wonders and magic !!!!!!!!
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Prayer can only change the world if it is aligned with God’s will. Paryer is a means of communicating with God and he hears and answers our prayers when we have a relationship with Him. It can also be used as a very effective method of spiritual warfare. In my ministry work, I train prayer warriors to take back families, neighbourhoods, communities and countries for God. we have seen amazing results in Southern Africa, with 4 nations in this region declaring the sovereignty of God. There were also amazing results from corporate prayer events held at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attack on the twin towers. Intercessory Prayer is a movement that everyone who really wants to change the world should explore and get involved in, but it has to be a strategic effort aligned with corporate worship, teaching and study of scriptures. (added by Mobile using Mippin)
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I train prayer warriors and am looking for ways to equip them for prayer missions. Prayer is communication with God. If we have a relationshp with Him, He hears and answers our prayers. I believe God’s phone number is any verse of scripture that speaks to your heart and that you need to know how to live. My team and I have seen amazing results from prayer, individually and collectively. It cand efinitely change the world ut only when aligned with God’s Will. A man in South Africa underwent a 21-day period of fasting and prayer believing it would put pressure on he government of Zimbabwe to uphold heir committment to bring stability back to that country. A week after ending his fasting and prayer, Morgan Tsvangurai’s wife was killed in a car accident. What is God saying in an instance like this? That is the real purpose of developing a strong prayer life and using it as a weapon of spiritual warfare.We must be careful not to pray for things that may not be aligned with God’s Will and Plan. (added by Mobile using Mippin)
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Dear all,
quantum physics proofed that reality is created by perception.
One good example for this was the quantum physicist David Bohm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bohm - he believed in an “Implicit Order”, out of which everything can be unfolded as soon as perception brings it to unfold in the right way.
Those being spiritually orientated regularly observe the power of prayer and quantum physics adds to this observation.
Yes, I believe that prayer can change the world as prayer means putting the focus and thus the perception on what is prayed for. The effect of prayers depends on how many people join in and especially to which extent the prayers really represent the beliefs of those praying.
Be attentive and find out that your life will be full of events mirroring the strong beliefs you have in your subconsciousness (and be aware of these beliefs often being the opposite of what you “believe to believe”). Then you realize that at any given moment “implicit prayers”, i.e. your subconscious beliefs, change and determine your portion of our world.
Love
Günther
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