Is there a difference between prayer and hope?

I don't think prayer and hope are similar. When you hope, you just hope. You're not ASKING for help, you just wish that it would happen. Prayer is when you ASK for something to happen and when you faith that it will. Hope does not have faith. It's just wishful thinking. Prayer has faith. If you're not religious, I think that you can pray but not necessarily to a God. It could be asking help and having faith on anyone or anything.

Prayer AND supplication. Prayer is usually always mentioned in the Bible in conjunction with the word supplication..

Prayer alone is not sufficient without supplication.. You pray for something then you have to go and DO the steps that bring the results of the prayer about.

Supplication is the actions required to facilitate the prayer.

So prayer is not always sufficient alone without supplication.

I guess the difference between hope and prayer is who you are talking to. But the request is still the same. By hoping you are asking anyone and everyone who might be influencing the way your life will play out in the future, to let this particular aspect be played out in a certain way. But prayer is more like asking a specific entity that you believe in to do the job for you.

Just found this:

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Give a man religion, watch him starve to death praying for fish."
-- Scott Stockdale

I'm beginning to think hope + action = prayer. Have to come back later to explain. Gilmore Girls with daughter begins now. (I hope it's a new episode)

Jesus taught the power of positive believing to Peter who had "toiled all day" with no fish and it was not until Peter renewed his faith that he found fish...

So your Scott Stockdale statement stands in total contradiction with the laws of believing/faith and the power of positive thinking...

So are you saying you only get a fish to nibble when you DON'T pray?

Who should I believe Scott Stockdale or Jesus?

To me, prayer is the soul's sincerest desire.

I'd go with the one that actually existed.
But that's just me.

Prayer can be as simple as prosperity and health...

Your teaching has convinced you that Jesus may not have existed.

But the Bible says Jesus Christ is "still" alive.

That is something time will reveal to us all...

My thoughts:

Hope (souls desire) + action = answered prayer.

One can hope to win a million dollars, but unless one takes action to buy a lottery ticket, it isn't going to happen.

One can hope for a job opportunity that fits their hopes /desires, but unless they take action to apply, search the paper, mingle with people in the field, etc, it isn't going to happen.

So, one can hope and pray for whatever one wants, but unless action is taken, there will be nothing.

I think of it this way: My heart / soul/ spirit tells me what I desire. That is the "Hope" or revealing of the desire of my soul. I pray for that desire to be fulfilled or met. If I stop there, I will never be or receive that for which I hope. However, if I listen to my hearts desire, pray for guidance, and then listen again, I will be more likely to know which steps to take in order to obtain what I need / want.

So, which one provides results? Hope? Prayer? Action?

Without hope or desire, we wouldn't know what our soul needs. Without prayer, we may not be giving the desire as much thought as needed to make it happen, and without action of course, nothing will happen.

Which begs the question, does prayer work or is it just focusing more of our energy and thoughts on our hope / desire which leads us to taking the required action to obtain what we desire? Is it all in our minds?

(I admit to being stuck in this mode of thinking for about a year now. Anyone with an answer for me will win a big undisclosed prize!)

I'm saying I only get a fish to nibble when I cast. If I am hungry, my hope /desire is for food. I can either stay in my cabin and pray for fish, or I can gather my rod and walk down to the lake.

If I pray for catfish just before I cast, but catch a crappy, was my prayer answered?

Just found this thread.

My answer: Yes. They are spelled differently.

Thank you, George.
I've heard it said (and I like the description) that prayer is talking to God and meditation is listening to him.

The more exhaustive answer seems to simplify the complexity of this subject and provides insight that is not easily seen.

There is knowledge and wisdom.

Wisdom is applied knowledge...

Yet knowledge comes from many places and sources.

Each person has a frame or frames of reference. Plato Aristotle Freud Jung (the Bible)?

Yet when we use the frame of the holy scriptures disregarding other thought so as to understand the Bible's unprejudiced, unbiased meaning we learn "God's" wisdom.

God does not respond to suffering... God responds to positive believing.

Yet...

There is positive and negative "believing"...

Confidence
Trust
Faith

Are positive believing.

Worries
Doubts
Fears

Are negative believing.

They are all still believing... but they are negative or positive forms of believing.

Ignorance or wrong teaching breeds negative believing.

We do not listen to our desires because they are corrupt and fleshly/animalistic.

We listen to the desires of God and we imitate God's virtuous image and standards for our life (including his grace and mercy towards others).

When we apply positive/negative believing then a law is applied.

Believing equals receiving.

What you believe (within the bounds of what is possible) for will come.

If you truly negatively believe for your self your nightmares can and do come to you.

Why?

Because our needs and wants are parallel.

If you need it and want it it will come but if you want it but don't need it it won't or if you need something but don't want it it will never come.

So our needs and wants have to be parallel and we need to be positively believing.

Then we understand that God's ability equals his willingness.

So it is not like God is willing but not able or able but not willing. God is always willing and able to do good things for us.

This has to be believed... in the power of God... Christ and the church have demonstrated this faith in God.
These have been demonstrated in the manifestation of the spirit.

There are nine of them.

The nine split up into three groups of three.

The knowing manifestations
(word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits)

The prayer manifestations
(speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy)

The doing manifestations.
(faith, miracles, healing)

When these manifestations are operated they produce the nine fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Comment:
Faith is a manifestation of the spirit and a fruit of the spirit...

So it is the "knowing manifestation" of the spirit that guides and teaches us through the holy scripture. We learn knowledge and the knowledge is spiritually obtained not from our desires but from God's desire. When we apply God's knowledge it reveals wisdom over time.

We take this knowledge and use the spirit to make intercession through "perfect" prayer and supplication positive believing. (I speak in tongues, interpret and prophecy.)

Through this wisdom and perfect prayer we then come into the "doing manifestations" where we bring "faith, miracles and healings" to come to pass all through the glory of God. These miracles over time affirm and reaffirm our commitment, believing and action to the wisdom, power and creation of the almighty one true God.

Peace with God

Frank, good to have you around again...

I have missed you...

Though it is nice to go unchallenged for a change

Hi Rex. Good to see you, too.

Hope all is well with you.

I know we will cross swords at some point...but right now I have my hands full in another thread.

But it is good to see ya.

Snood,

I have heard that description before and yes, I like it myself!