On Prayer

Please read FOLLOW-UP ON "WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?" for a better understanding of my take on prayer.

Some readers have e-mailed requesting for input on prayer. While it is not an indepth explanation of types of prayer, the follow-up on why bad things happen to good people explores my understanding of prayers and God's will.

I also have to note that as parents, many people know what their children need and provide those, they also know what their children want. Often the wants are made available but depending on the parent's determination of the need of the child, she or he may or may not provide what the child wants even when the child asks for it. In not granting that, the parent also answered the request - she/he says NO. No good parent will, for instance, allow the child to eat only cookies for days because the child wants to do so. While this may seem good to the child, the parent knows that this may eventually hurt the child's health. Along the same way God knows what we need and what we want. In accordance to his will, he allows certain things and does not allow certain things depending on the need/want of the individual. What we sometimes perceive to be our need may not necessarily be a need, just as what our children often perceive to be need may end up not being so.

There sometimes seem to be discrepancy in the way that people get certain things while others do not. It is important to note that these may be as a result of the possibility that two persons may react to the same thing in different ways. One may say, why would God not give what I "need" and leave the rest to me? Often we do not give our children everything they think they need so we can leave the rest to them. To do so may spell trouble for our children.