Can a Christian believe in God but not believe in prayer? I’m a member of the church but I don’t believe in prayer? How do I overcome that?<\/p>\n\t
Let’s work backward. You say you don’t believe in prayer, yet the Bible says that Jesus taught, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart<\/em>” (Luke 18:1). To say you don’t believe in prayer is to say you don’t believe in Jesus’ commands. After all Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments<\/em>” (John 14:15). And that means you don’t really believe in Jesus as Lord or the Bible. But then how can you claim to be a Christian, a follower of Christ? “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?<\/em>” (Luke 6:46). And how can you claim to be a member of the church — a citizen in Christ’s kingdom?<\/p>\n The point is that you can’t pick pieces of God’s commands and say “I don’t believe in that” without unraveling everything for which you think you stand.<\/p>\n The fact is that God said we must pray, he taught us how to pray, and he explained why we must pray. Either you trust God (believe Him) or you don’t. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:6). Your problem is deeper than just not believing in prayer.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Can a Christian believe in God but not believe in prayer? I’m a member of the church but I don’t believe in prayer? How do I overcome that? Answer: Let’s work backward. You say you don’t believe in prayer, yet the Bible says that Jesus taught, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[49,1510],"class_list":["post-37349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4778,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-one-justify-being-a-christian-if-he-is-not-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":37349,"position":0},"title":"How can one justify being a Christian if he is not baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can one justify being a Christian if he claims to believe but is not baptized until some time later? Is he convinced that baptism does not save you? Question: Many denominations teach people that belief is all that is required for salvation. Some, such as the Baptists, do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55569,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-yours-mine-or-the-lords\/","url_meta":{"origin":37349,"position":1},"title":"The Church: Yours, Mine, or the Lord’s?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via\u00a0Gospel Minutes, Feb. 6, 1976 Questions: Isn't it true that the present-day church of Christ was begun in the early 1800s by Alexander and Thomas Campbell? Was there any organization of your church from the first to\u00a0the 18th centuries? On what basis can your ministers claim that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-teach-a-stubborn-person-the-truth-about-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":37349,"position":2},"title":"How do I teach a stubborn person the truth about baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for\u00a0your response. I did have another question that touches on your response. The same goes for denomination such as the AME. They teach false doctrine when it comes to baptism and yet proclaim to be saved. I have a female friend that swears to be saved and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19690,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-christians-in-all-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":37349,"position":3},"title":"Are there Christians in all churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a friend that is a member of a denominational church. I am a member of Christ's church. We had a discussion about Christians. I told her that she is not a Christian because she has not been added to the Lord's one and only church of Christ.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-are-faith-and-prayer-related\/","url_meta":{"origin":37349,"position":4},"title":"How are faith and prayer related?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How are faith and prayer related? Answer: Prayer is a form of worship to God where we bring our requests to Him along with our praise and our thanksgivings. But what use would it be to ask God for a favor while at the same time having no confidence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-youre-praying-for-something-and-believe-you-have-received-it-what-if-its-not-what-god-wants\/","url_meta":{"origin":37349,"position":5},"title":"If you’re praying for something and believe you have received it, what if it’s not what God wants?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm curious to know about some Bible verses I've heard. Well, I heard a Bible verse that said something like: \"Therefore, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours\" The thing I don't understand is, is that people say God wants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}