Religion, God, and prayer?

[Bety23]

What is religion? Is there really a God and prayer really work

[Daniela1982]

Prayer works under certain conditions. You need to be a believer. God has no responsibility to hear the prayers of the unrighteous.

Even though the Lord knows and hears all, He has given some circumstances in which He will not listen to our prayers:

1. When we are choosing to hold on to sin, rather than repent and change, God will not hear our prayers. In Isaiah 1:15, the Lord says, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!” Proverbs 28:9 says, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.”
Example: A couple is living together in sexual sin, yet they pray for God’s blessing on their home.

2. When we ask according to our own selfish desires, God will not hear our prayers. James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Example: A man is dissatisfied with his three-year-old Toyota, so he prays for a brand-new Mercedes.

3. When what we ask is not in accordance with His will for us. First John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
Example: We pray fervently for a new job, but God’s plan requires that we stay where we are and be a witness to our coworkers.

4. When we do not ask in faith. In Mark 11:24 Jesus said, “I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” However, faith is not believing for something; it is believing in Someone. Our faith is in the character of God and His desire to bless and comfort us. When we pray, we should have faith that He hears us and will grant every request that is in line with His will for us (1 John 5:14–15).
Example: We ask God to supply a financial need but continue to worry and make faithless comments to our families and coworkers, such as “I’m probably going to go to the poorhouse. I’ll never get that money.”

[Bety23]

Thanks for the positive words appreciate it

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

Prayer works, yes. But not for the reasons you might think.
Scientifically speaking, we currently have no way to prove the existence of god, or divinity, as these are both abstract concepts. We also currently have no way to prove the existence of justice, love, and freedom but these are all still accepted as things that exist but that’s getting a little too philosophical so let’s go back to the science.
Prayer has been shown to work, in a roundabout way. It has a psychological effect on the brain where it provides not only a real sense of comfort but a removal of some of the stress and anxiety someone might have been mulling over for months or days at a time. It’s a result similar to that phenomena known as the Placebo Effect, which showcases the power of belief in humans. Even though the pill does nothing, because we believe it makes us better, we feel better and experience fewer symptoms than we did originally. Prayer works in a very similar way except that it can be applied to much more than just medicine and physical health, it can be applied to one’s mental wellbeing, it can lower one’s anxiety and cortisol levels, it can make you feel more hopeful about tomorrow, reducing the feeling of hopelessness and despair so common in depression. Now, like the placebo effect, is prayer as effective as a real solution? Not necessarily, a placebo isn’t going to cure someone’s cancer, neither is prayer, but having hope and being optimistic gives one more opportunities to see potential solutions because you now believe they not only exist but are somehow coming into your scope of view so you can get better at whatever it is you’re praying over. This psychological phenomena has been applied to many different aspects of spirituality in general, and it’s a fascinating thing to study all around especially given just how many applications of this power of belief there can be in the life of the average person.

[dreamstar72]

Religion is what to choose
God is real
Prayer is to make you feel better, but the result is in luck and/or money and free will.

[jahaims]

Religion is a cult. God doesn't exist so prayer does nothing.

[strateguy632]

you can't say t baseless claims with any certainty.

[Gent207-2]

Interesting questions

Religion - whatever the dictionary says and then some.

I am a Christian

[strateguy632]

hi bety, religion is like the word "lig legal" so laws.

when we pray and someone healed, part nature healed but god helped heal, if we prayed.