Would this not interfere with her free will?
How To Pray For Non-believing Spouse
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Would this not interfere with her free will?
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How would one know where her "free will" truly lies? Prayer is asking God that His will done: and He knows the hearts better than we. God knows how to speak to our hearts, with a sweet, gentle voice.
I'm not claiming to know anyone's free will. What I'm saying is, if god has a plan then asking him to soften someone's heart is in direct conflict with free will, or you're merely asking god to do what he already is going to do, and if wasn't going to do what you ask, then you are asking him to change his plan, which is impossible. You can't ask god to interfere in this manner.
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God's plan is for us all to be saved. Granted He will not go against our free will, but the prayer of intercessation is also asking the Lord to give the soul a chance (or another chance) to repent. Nevertheless, love is not against someone's free will: and that is what intercession is: a supplication of love.
Free Will: the opportunity to choose.
But that opportunity was always there, what they were suggesting was to have god literally make the person soften his heart. I'm sorry, but is fail to see this as anything but a violation of free will. If the opportunity is there, then fine, but "softening" removes the opportunity. Also, god wouldn't need to give another chance because he would already know another chance was in the offing. You see, this is where free will and a plan are at odds. And intercessory prayer conflicts with both.
Hmmmm, all this talk about free will, the only humans that had free will were Adam and Eve, after the Fall all of their posterity were born in the likeness and image of their fallen parents Gen 5:3 and Paul tells us that we are slaves to our sinful natures which are being directed by the power of sin in the world Eph 2:1-3, so in light of that, then yes, we had a free will, so to speak, ...to chose what sin we would participate in, from birth to death we are constantly influenced by the sin principle that is guiding and directing this world.
That is the test presented to Adam, would he resist the temptation to exercise his free will to disobey God, or in love say, "not my will be done, but yours."
And that is the same test presented to every child of Adam, the Holy Spirit comes along side of them and begins to show them their fallen condition, their enslavement to sin, their lack of a free will to chose to not sin, then at the proper moment the bondage of sin is removed and for the first time in their lives they truly have a free will to chose to follow Jesus or continue on in their sin, they are restored to the state Adam possessed before the Fall, if they choose to not receive Jesus then they revert back to their sinful nature, if they choose Jesus then the state of living with a free will will continue on for all eternity, however there is still the test of Adam, do they/we truly love God enough to say, "not my will be done, but yours."
If we say your will be done in my life then Paul teaches we are walking in the Spirit, if we say my will be done in my life he teaches we are babes in Christ, carnal Christians.
The Holy Spirit works in our hearts, our soul, the seat of our emotions to convict us of our fallen nature and the consequences thereof, our will resides in our spirit and is macho, the captain of my own destiny, yes it's true, God will not change or will, however He will work to change our hearts, ...all of God's kids came to Him because they were drawn by His love (an emotion) or afraid (also an emotion) of going to Hell and from these emotional responses we changed our own wills.
The smartest and most prudent thing we can do as born again children of God is subjugate or wills to allow Jesus to rule in our lives, this is eating of the Tree of Life, rather than saying my will be done, which is eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which always results in some sort of death, ...it's a promise and a fact.
Blessings,
Gene
That is the test presented to Adam, would he resist the temptation to exercise his free will to disobey God, or in love say, "not my will be done, but yours."
And that is the same test presented to every child of Adam, the Holy Spirit comes along side of them and begins to show them their fallen condition, their enslavement to sin, their lack of a free will to chose to not sin, then at the proper moment the bondage of sin is removed and for the first time in their lives they truly have a free will to chose to follow Jesus or continue on in their sin, they are restored to the state Adam possessed before the Fall, if they choose to not receive Jesus then they revert back to their sinful nature, if they choose Jesus then the state of living with a free will will continue on for all eternity, however there is still the test of Adam, do they/we truly love God enough to say, "not my will be done, but yours."
If we say your will be done in my life then Paul teaches we are walking in the Spirit, if we say my will be done in my life he teaches we are babes in Christ, carnal Christians.
The Holy Spirit works in our hearts, our soul, the seat of our emotions to convict us of our fallen nature and the consequences thereof, our will resides in our spirit and is macho, the captain of my own destiny, yes it's true, God will not change or will, however He will work to change our hearts, ...all of God's kids came to Him because they were drawn by His love (an emotion) or afraid (also an emotion) of going to Hell and from these emotional responses we changed our own wills.
The smartest and most prudent thing we can do as born again children of God is subjugate or wills to allow Jesus to rule in our lives, this is eating of the Tree of Life, rather than saying my will be done, which is eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which always results in some sort of death, ...it's a promise and a fact.
Blessings,
Gene
Hi,
This is the first time I read this post. To be honest I don't think any tv shows or movies are going to do the trick. They are entertaining, sometimes, but I never really get anything out of it.
In my humble opinion I would say the best thing to do is to pray to God for your wife, and show her unconditional love. Have faith that He will change her heart. Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
I remember my dad telling me not to pray for him, because he didn't want to change his ways. I prayed for him, and asked others to pray for him. A year later he was reading his bible daily, and going to church. It was like a completely different person when his heart was changed.
This is the first time I read this post. To be honest I don't think any tv shows or movies are going to do the trick. They are entertaining, sometimes, but I never really get anything out of it.
In my humble opinion I would say the best thing to do is to pray to God for your wife, and show her unconditional love. Have faith that He will change her heart. Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
I remember my dad telling me not to pray for him, because he didn't want to change his ways. I prayed for him, and asked others to pray for him. A year later he was reading his bible daily, and going to church. It was like a completely different person when his heart was changed.
I don't think that is a very good introduction to Christianity.
It's a bit on the bloody side and it is likely to put her off.
Not to mention that the film's creator isn't exactly a poster boy for the faith either.
Not necessarily.
A common objection from non-Christians is that they do not understand why Jesus had to be tortured to death in the first place. The gist of the argument being that an omnipotent, loving being could just as well decide to forgive sinners without all the murder and mayhem.
My advice might not be great, but I'm going to offer it anyway.
Let's keep in mind that this is regarding a you as a husband who wants to reach out to your wife. As men, when a woman has a problem, our initial instinct is to step in and try to fix it. This isn't necessarily what women want -- at least, not right away.
As Christians, we also have an instinct to proclaim and defend Christianity through scripture, through reason, through history, and through stories. While that's well and good, it sounds like nothing you say will completely be new to her -- it's not like she doesn't know the gospel. With all due respect to a fellow poster, having her sit and watch the Passion of the Christ will not only insult her intelligence, but she will feel as if you are trying to change her.
Of course you want her to change in that you want her to come to God (you probably don't want her to change in her other aspects). But the best advice I can give to promoting Christianity, right now anyway, is to accept her 100% as she is and live as an example of Christ. Try to up your game as a husband, even if you are already a great one. Put aside negative. Always be gentle with and supportive of her.
If she sees the change in you, you may be more open looking into Christ.
And if she asks questions, be prepared. If she asks you how you know Jesus is the Son of God, know how to answer it. She won't be looking for what the Bible says, but what reason says. If the answer is reasonable (and there is a sound reason for it) she will then come around to consider the Bible as a valuable source.
But ultimately, just live your life as as perfect an example you can be for Jesus' love. People have come to God just from just being overwhelmed by how loving Christians can be, especially when put to the test.
And of course...PRAY EVERY DAY FOR HER! Never skip a prayer where she isn't mentioned.
Let's keep in mind that this is regarding a you as a husband who wants to reach out to your wife. As men, when a woman has a problem, our initial instinct is to step in and try to fix it. This isn't necessarily what women want -- at least, not right away.
As Christians, we also have an instinct to proclaim and defend Christianity through scripture, through reason, through history, and through stories. While that's well and good, it sounds like nothing you say will completely be new to her -- it's not like she doesn't know the gospel. With all due respect to a fellow poster, having her sit and watch the Passion of the Christ will not only insult her intelligence, but she will feel as if you are trying to change her.
Of course you want her to change in that you want her to come to God (you probably don't want her to change in her other aspects). But the best advice I can give to promoting Christianity, right now anyway, is to accept her 100% as she is and live as an example of Christ. Try to up your game as a husband, even if you are already a great one. Put aside negative. Always be gentle with and supportive of her.
If she sees the change in you, you may be more open looking into Christ.
And if she asks questions, be prepared. If she asks you how you know Jesus is the Son of God, know how to answer it. She won't be looking for what the Bible says, but what reason says. If the answer is reasonable (and there is a sound reason for it) she will then come around to consider the Bible as a valuable source.
But ultimately, just live your life as as perfect an example you can be for Jesus' love. People have come to God just from just being overwhelmed by how loving Christians can be, especially when put to the test.
And of course...PRAY EVERY DAY FOR HER! Never skip a prayer where she isn't mentioned.
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1Co 7:13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
1Co 7:16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
1Co 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
You are going to be the only Bible your wife is going to read. Let your life show forth the goodness and mercy of God through you.
1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
1Co 7:16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
1Co 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
You are going to be the only Bible your wife is going to read. Let your life show forth the goodness and mercy of God through you.
Ugh, I wish I could edit this. Writing this in a hurray was a bad idea.
