Like many people I have online friends and spend a fair amount of time online. But isn’t it a sad comment on our society to have a site called Dear-God.net, devoted to apparently allowing people to post their prayers on line?
I had not heard of it, till last week our local paper ran an article about this online site. The non denominational site is a place where it seems people can post their prayers and an appropriate picture if they like to show how they are feeling.
Other people can and do respond to the posts. Other people might respond to the posts. Does God?
Are these really prayers? Or a way of airing grievances, a way of helping the person feel better about themselves by getting it out in the open? Are they more wishful thinking than a prayer with any hope of a response from the Almighty?
Wishful thinking is a vague hope that has no basis in reality. Christianity is all about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus, through which we can direct our prayers to our Heavenly Father. Prayers are based on a solid relationship with God and understanding of God’s character and expectations.
I believe God answers those who genuinely seek Him. Whether God will answer these posts is debatable. It seems to me what is missing at Dear-God.net is any form of relationship with God Almighty.
Some people are not sure even to who they should address these supposed prayers and end up starting Dear Universe. One even includes a prayer to the unborn daughter she is about to abort. And yet, the site claim a person can get on God’s mailing list! Last I heard God did not have a mailing list.
The posts reveal some desperately sad people out their trying to cope with all sorts of problems.
Do people need to see their prayers posted online to gauge the validity of them? I, am a person who always writes out my prayers – in my quiet time journal, along with my reflections on the passage of Scripture I read. I find the act of writing out prayers helps clarify them in my mind, so it’s not the writing out of prayers I have problems with. But the lack of any real relationship between the person posting the prayer and the Lord God. Aren’t these posts lulling people into a false sense of security that their prayers are out there, on the off chance that someone might just answer?
Another sad aspect in all this is that those posting do not have any person or any church support where they can find people to pray with them. That’s a sad comment on our society.
Prayer is a two way relationship between a person and their God. It is not just talking but listening to what the Lord tells us, which is why we need to read His Word and allow the Holy Spirit within to help us understand God’s word and what He requires of us. It is not sending a post labeled a prayer into cyber space to someone some of the people don’t even appear sure they believe in.What do others think?
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