Have you ever prayed to anyone for financial success?

[tloonya]

saintexpedite.org/prayers.html

What do you think?

[tskeeter]

You can pray all you want, but the Lord helps those who help themselves. 

Success of any type is less about prayer and more about doing things and making decisions that contribute to improving your probability of success.  Stuff like acquiring knowledge and skills, relying on appropriate advisors when your knowledge and skill are lacking, and making decisions that will advance your agenda rather than detract from it.

You're unlikely to be a financial success if you pray for wealth while not bothering to get a good education, not bothering to work any harder than you absolutely have to, spending all of your pay check and borrowing everything you can get your hands on to buy toys and other fun stuff, doing stuff on a whim rather than after learning about what is involved before you jump in with both feet, and not learning about basic economics and finance (how many people jump into something and buy high because "everyone" is making money, then get scared and sell low, or get forced out of business because they didn't consider what would happen when economic cycles went the other direction?).

It's a bit like the joke about the guy who drowned in a flood.  He ignored the warnings that a flood was coming and stayed in his river front house.  When a neighbor offered him space in his boat to escape the rising water, he declined.  When a helicopter hovered over his house while he sat on the roof, he refused to get into the harness.  When he came face to face with God he asked "why didn't you save me"?  To which God responded, I sent you warnings, I sent you a boat, I even sent you a helicopter.  I can't save you if you're not willing to do anything to help yourself.   

[Artemis Windsong]

Here's the list of saints.


www.catholicapologetics.info/library/saints/index.htm

I'm not Catholic but I do pray to St. Anthony a lot for misplaced items..  St. Rita is a worker of the impossible.

[giramomma]

I believe prayer quiets me and gives me the space/calmness to solve the problems at hand..Don't pray to a specific Saint, though. Just the big dude...

Actually, yesterday I woke up an answer came right to me.

[whoisjohngalt]

Sure.  Almost daily.

[busymom]

I don't pray to specific Saints, but then I was raised Protestant. We send our prayers directly to God.

I'm not sure if praying to be rich is appropriate, but I think it's o.k. to pray for wisdom if you're going through tough times. And, as others have already said, get ready to work & be part of the solution. I agree that prayer, while communicating with God, also changes the person doing the praying.

[techguy]

Nobody bats an eye when a guy prays and tries to communicate to god.

But nobody would believe him if he says that god actually responded and they communicated back and forth.

[Lizard Queen]

Sept 25, 2015 17:33:37 GMT -5 @tbird said:

Here are the St. Jude prayers.....If you click on the prayer cards, they open up and show the prayer.

www.shrineofstjude.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ssj_share_prayer

I prayed the first one for you and your family Looney, that you would get through these troubled times and not be destitute.

I've never prayed to St. Jude before, but I just tried it now for a specific issue that I have.  I'll let you know how it worked, but I will say that I feel better about it anyway.  I've made a great effort getting it resolved on my own only to hit a brick wall. Now it's in someone else's hands.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 25, 2015 16:14:08 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

You can pray all you want, but the Lord helps those who help themselves. 

Success of any type is less about prayer and more about doing things and making decisions that contribute to improving your probability of success.  Stuff like acquiring knowledge and skills, relying on appropriate advisors when your knowledge and skill are lacking, and making decisions that will advance your agenda rather than detract from it.

You're unlikely to be a financial success if you pray for wealth while not bothering to get a good education, not bothering to work any harder than you absolutely have to, spending all of your pay check and borrowing everything you can get your hands on to buy toys and other fun stuff, doing stuff on a whim rather than after learning about what is involved before you jump in with both feet, and not learning about basic economics and finance (how many people jump into something and buy high because "everyone" is making money, then get scared and sell low, or get forced out of business because they didn't consider what would happen when economic cycles went the other direction?).

It's a bit like the joke about the guy who drowned in a flood.  He ignored the warnings that a flood was coming and stayed in his river front house.  When a neighbor offered him space in his boat to escape the rising water, he declined.  When a helicopter hovered over his house while he sat on the roof, he refused to get into the harness.  When he came face to face with God he asked "why didn't you save me"?  To which God responded, I sent you warnings, I sent you a boat, I even sent you a helicopter.  I can't save you if you're not willing to do anything to help yourself.   

Or as Hunter S. Thompson said, “Pray to God, but row away from the rocks.”

[Tiny]

Does God (or the Saints) play favorites?

[mroped]

This young man heard that if you pray to God, you could win the lottery.
So every Saturday and Wednesday he would pray to be the winner and then every Sunday and Thursday he would be mad at God for not winning.
On a Sunday he was doing his normal routine of being mad at God: why God won't you help me win? I'm a good man and live my life by your rules so why are you denying me the happiness of being the lottery winner?

The sky splits for a second and a deep voice is heard: Son, if you wanna win the lottery, first you gotta buy a ticket!

So, did you buy your ticket?  

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 26, 2015 13:01:30 GMT -5 mroped said:

This young man heard that if you pray to God, you could win the lottery.
So every Saturday and Wednesday he would pray to be the winner and then every Sunday and Thursday he would be mad at God for not winning.
On a Sunday he was doing his normal routine of being mad at God: why God won't you help me win? I'm a good man and live my life by your rules so why are you denying me the happiness of being the lottery winner?

The sky splits for a second and a deep voice is heard: Son, if you wanna win the lottery, first you gotta buy a ticket!

So, did you buy your ticket?  

This was a "blonde joke" at one time but still funny  

[cael]

I've prayed to His Noodliness the Flying Spaghetti Monster to help me win the lottery, sadly He has let me down thus far. I found ten bucks on the ground yesterday and am feeling lucky, so maybe Wednesday I'll buy some ramen and a few powerball quick picks.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 26, 2015 12:59:34 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Does God (or the Saints) play favorites?

Ask two football teams playing each other.

[violagirl]

For Christians anyway, I thought the Lord's Prayer was for "our daily bread". If financial success is having enough to get you through each day then pray away. 

[haapai]

No, I don't remember ever praying for financial success.  My memory of never having done so is probably accurate since A.) I'm not much of a prayer and B.) I've never felt much inclination to appeal to a deity that was responsive to worship or bribery.

On the other hand, I've been plenty uncertain about plenty of the decisions that I have taken, many of which involved money, and really, really hoped that the decision that I made or wanted  to make was the one that I had been taught to make and the one that it would ultimately be the right one.

It's not easy to make smart decisions when they involve exactly how to give up a job, a house, or a car that you don't know how to replace.  I've faced a few of those decisions and been really torn.  Neither the greediest possible option available nor the most altruistic option is likely to be the right one and few of us are trained well in in how to evaluate such circumstances.  A lot of otherwise sane and useful people prefer to tell you that. "If you had lived your life right, you wouldn't be facing such choices."  I can't begin to explain how unhelpful that "wisdom" is when you are facing bad options.  

[Peace Of Mind]

I was recently talking to DH about wanting another inheritance and that it's his family's turn.  Wait - that's not about God and prayers.  Or is it?









<------  <<runs and hides under the covers>>  ETA:  That was 14,666 so I had to hurry up and post again.  And...



I WAS KIDDING!!!!

[HoneyBBQ]

No, I'm an atheist.

[garion2003]

Sept 25, 2015 16:14:08 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

You can pray all you want, but the Lord helps those who help themselves. 

Success of any type is less about prayer and more about doing things and making decisions that contribute to improving your probability of success.  Stuff like acquiring knowledge and skills, relying on appropriate advisors when your knowledge and skill are lacking, and making decisions that will advance your agenda rather than detract from it.

You're unlikely to be a financial success if you pray for wealth while not bothering to get a good education, not bothering to work any harder than you absolutely have to, spending all of your pay check and borrowing everything you can get your hands on to buy toys and other fun stuff, doing stuff on a whim rather than after learning about what is involved before you jump in with both feet, and not learning about basic economics and finance (how many people jump into something and buy high because "everyone" is making money, then get scared and sell low, or get forced out of business because they didn't consider what would happen when economic cycles went the other direction?).

It's a bit like the joke about the guy who drowned in a flood.  He ignored the warnings that a flood was coming and stayed in his river front house.  When a neighbor offered him space in his boat to escape the rising water, he declined.  When a helicopter hovered over his house while he sat on the roof, he refused to get into the harness.  When he came face to face with God he asked "why didn't you save me"?  To which God responded, I sent you warnings, I sent you a boat, I even sent you a helicopter.  I can't save you if you're not willing to do anything to help yourself.   

At least that's according to Benjamin Franklin

[Phoenix84]

Not specifically, but I have prayed for a new/better job before.

[Cookies Galore]

I'm an atheist so I don't pray, but I was raised Catholic so that stuff is ingrained in me. If hubs loses something I automatically say "say a prayer to Saint Anthony!" I can't shake the indoctrination!

[wyouser]

For financial success, no. But I recall a time long long ago, in the time of Noah, while being a university student, that we were overcome by a long period of rain. One morning while leaving our basement apartment for class I found one of my roomates (a big burly ex-marine) shaking his fists at the clouds and gazing skyward while shouting : "The F#@$%&* South Dakota Rain god can suck s*%#!!" Later that afternoon I returned from class to find 4 feet of water in our basement apartment with my roommate ate the top of the steps again looking skyward while on his knees begging the rain gods to forgive his earlier tantrum. 

[tskeeter]

Sept 29, 2015 9:28:12 GMT -5 garion2003 said:

Sept 25, 2015 16:14:08 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

You can pray all you want, but the Lord helps those who help themselves. 

Success of any type is less about prayer and more about doing things and making decisions that contribute to improving your probability of success.  Stuff like acquiring knowledge and skills, relying on appropriate advisors when your knowledge and skill are lacking, and making decisions that will advance your agenda rather than detract from it.

You're unlikely to be a financial success if you pray for wealth while not bothering to get a good education, not bothering to work any harder than you absolutely have to, spending all of your pay check and borrowing everything you can get your hands on to buy toys and other fun stuff, doing stuff on a whim rather than after learning about what is involved before you jump in with both feet, and not learning about basic economics and finance (how many people jump into something and buy high because "everyone" is making money, then get scared and sell low, or get forced out of business because they didn't consider what would happen when economic cycles went the other direction?).

It's a bit like the joke about the guy who drowned in a flood.  He ignored the warnings that a flood was coming and stayed in his river front house.  When a neighbor offered him space in his boat to escape the rising water, he declined.  When a helicopter hovered over his house while he sat on the roof, he refused to get into the harness.  When he came face to face with God he asked "why didn't you save me"?  To which God responded, I sent you warnings, I sent you a boat, I even sent you a helicopter.  I can't save you if you're not willing to do anything to help yourself.   

At least that's according to Benjamin Franklin

And, apparently, Hunter S. Thompson (see above).

[haapai]

Sept 29, 2015 12:05:26 GMT -5 wyouser said:

For financial success, no. But I recall a time long long ago, in the time of Noah, while being a university student, that we were overcome by a long period of rain. One morning while leaving our basement apartment for class I found one of my roomates (a big burly ex-marine) shaking his fists at the clouds and gazing skyward while shouting : "The F#@$%&* South Dakota Rain god can suck s*%#!!" Later that afternoon I returned from class to find 4 feet of water in our basement apartment with my roommate ate the top of the steps again looking skyward while on his knees begging the rain gods to forgive his earlier tantrum. 

Appealing to the drainage demon might have been more effective. 

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 29, 2015 10:26:43 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

I'm an atheist so I don't pray, but I was raised Catholic so that stuff is ingrained in me. If hubs loses something I automatically say "say a prayer to Saint Anthony!" I can't shake the indoctrination!

Not being Catholic I automatically would say "did you look behind the couch"