An idle curiosity popped into my head today that I’m sure you could give an answer to. God chose Israel as His chosen people, correct? Why? What made them special? What significance did they have? He could’ve made a covenant with anyone, but He chose a nation that would continually forget Him, ignore Him, grieve Him, and cheat on Him. Obviously God doesn’t make arbitrary decisions, but does Scripture tell us the point when He felt He even needed a chosen people? Like I said, it’s more of an idle curiosity than a faith shaking quest for truth, but I knew you could help point me in the right direction.

I heard an interesting voice in my head the other evening as I was saying the Lord’s Prayer. I have been saying this prayer every day since I learned it when I was a child. For some reason, as I got to the verse Lead us not into temptation, something inside me asked why do I think the Lord would lead me into temptation. I feel it was the Holy Spirit asking me that question. Ever since that night, I can no longer say that verse, instead, I have changed it to Protect us from Temptation. Is it just me, or does it seem odd to ask God not to lead us into temptation, when that is the last thing he would ever do?

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Brother. Your site is such a blessing to me.

My question is can we have an impact on someone’s salvation through our prayers? I have always believed that we could, after all, Jesus said to ask anything in His name and it will be done, it’s certainly in His will and two or more have prayed and claimed it. I just read your response to “Can we save the dead” and now I am wondering if my prayers will help.

I have two daughters, neither of whom are believers. I have spoken in depth with my oldest and she just doesn’t “buy into” Jesus. I pray that they will come to know the Lord before the Rapture. I admit that I am not always a great example to them, I am impatient and do other sins that I ask God to forgive me of. The problem is they don’t see that I am forgiven and redeemed at the cross – they only see me as an imperfect person. But, all this aside I am a loving, frustrated mother.

I recently read an article in which the author referenced the “Prayer of Jabez.” (1 Chron 4:9-10) He concluded that “God will not give us what we want just because we pray a certain prayer 3, 4, or even 1,000 times a day. When we do this we are putting our trust in the prayer instead of God, and it becomes a form of idolatry.” I had never thought of repetitive prayer in that way. I know there are several religions that have their prayer rituals and chants. What are your thoughts on this?

Recently I read that end times prophecy turned you from life long churchgoer to born again believer. Can you explain what you meant? Wouldn’t your going to church faithfully mean that you believed in God and subsequently Jesus? After all, isn’t it simply a belief in Jesus and that he died for us enough?

I am trying to study the Jewish feasts and I wanted to see a Jewish calendar. I went to a website to look at one and now I am more confused. It shows the Jewish year as September to September however, when reading in Lev 23 about the time of the feasts it says that Passover should be on the 14th day of the first month. So why isn’t Passover in September according to the Jewish calendar? I would really appreciate any clarification you could give me on this.

Our study group recently had a lesson on the “doctrine of election”. Many of us were confused to the point that we are going to continue the teaching next week. Can you please shed some light on this subject? We were told that God chose those who will be saved “before the foundations of earth” and everyone who wasn’t chosen then has no hope. We know God is a just God and would not create people who had no chance of being saved. Can you help?

May I ask you to help me understand something? I follow several prayer groups praying for our nation. They all include the phrase, “Repent on behalf of our nation.” May I ask how we repent on behalf of another or for that matter a nation? I do pray that the Holy Spirit will do His work and convict the citizens of this nation of our sins. But, apart from that, I don’t understand how we can repent for our nation. Seems to me that is an individual responsibility.

My friend’s very elderly mother lost her husband last year and has now being diagnosed with lymphoma in her face. I mentioned this to my pastor and he led our congregation in prayers for her speedy recovery from this dreadful condition. It was all could do not to leap out of my seat and protest that none of her family wants her to recover. She is 86 years old and worn out with grief from caring for and then losing her lifelong partner. Recovery from this disease will only leave her waiting for another disease to take her, because, after all, no amount of prayer is going to turn the clock back and make her life span indefinite.

Is it wrong to pray for someone to die quickly from a condition, to pray that they don’t have to suffer the horrors of chemotherapy pushed upon them by ‘wellmeaning’ doctors? Are we required always to pray for people to recover from possibly terminal disease even if it means they will be left deformed and crippled? It seems so illogical – almost contrary. Why is it that even really solid Christians still seem to think that dying is the worst thing that can happen to a person, when it seems to me to be the start of REAL life?

Please put me straight before I say something and upset someone!!

I have been visiting your site for some time now and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Recently I received an email from the Reformation Book Store. They were advertising a book on the dangers of dispensationalism. It says that this belief causes confusion about how to pray for our Nation and the world because we believe the Bible predicts what will happen and there is nothing we can do about it, so why pray? I have to admit that I feel confused about this too. When we read that “there will be perilous times” why should we pray for wise leaders? What do you say about this subject?