Article two: if you pray it, God's gonna do it
The hosts dismantle the treat-God-like-a-genie posture: God's promises have original audiences — claiming them like loopholes misunderstands the relationship. God 'will always act in his own character'; the orphanage-via-casino anecdote shows He cares about the means, not just the ends. The New Testament letters focus on personal behavior — 'how you do something matters more than the thing that actually got done' — because you only control your own faithfulness. Discerning which prayers are 'move to Ohio' questions versus 'which route to Walmart' questions: God gave you a brain, and He also breaks in unexpectedly ('let's roll the dice' on a prompting and see).
More on Prayer
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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'What would I fight God on?': buildings, pews, and the zero-fruit youth group
- What would I fight God on — and would my heart go along with following him?
Ben shares what he ran into in the last couple weeks: 'what would I fight God on even if I knew it was him?'
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Is modern Christianity biased toward a personality type?
- Is modern Christianity (its sermons and worship music) biased toward a certain personality type?
A host asks whether what churches teach, focus on, and sing is biased toward a certain personality type — prompted by emotive worship lyrics (the 'sloppy wet kiss' line in a…
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Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
- Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
A host asks whether following Jesus should feel more comfortable as time goes on — noting the low-level tension many feel around am-I-doing-enough and the stigma that contentment equals laziness.