Pray to save, or pray for the strength to save?

[Beyer]

I noticed something recently while in my random visits to many services at various churches and talks with various religious people.

I noticed that many of them prayed for God to save the people that are suffering.

Now this is all fine when there is no way you can help (eg. Stopping world hunger and ending war) but when it is about your family or someone close to you, I don't quite agree with it. I feel like it is better to pray to God for the strength to save these people. It seems more likely to me that he would give you the strength to help rather than intervene himself. Maybe even pray for your loved ones to get the strength to save themselves? I just don't agree with asking God to do the job himself.

I want to ask a question:
Which does your church ask you to do? Do they pray for God to save or do they pray for the strength to save? Which do you do?

Hope I am making sense

 

[Oberon]

I think there's an even better option: strategically organize a solution, and then execute it, leaving the faith of chance out of the equation. Hasn't failed me yet.

 

[Orion]

I think there's an even better option: strategically organize a solution, and then execute it, leaving the faith of chance out of the equation. Hasn't failed me yet.

Problem solved.

 

[Solar]

Well I'm not Christian so I pray differently, in my situations I can't really help those close to me because they live so far away so I pray the former but otherwise, yes, I go with the latter.

EDIT: God helps those who helps themselves is also a belief of mine

 

[Forever Atlas]

This thread reminds me of a few similar threads in the past:

http://forums.khinsider.com/religion/130834-prayer-huh-yeah-what-good.html
http://forums.khinsider.com/religion/132336-praying-fatal-when-you-have-no-modern-medicine.html

But anyway, for my current answer, it is not so simple as I personally believe prayer has a lot of factors that weigh in. On the whole, however, we pray for the strength, courage, etc. As the above comment says, God helps those who help themselves. So we have to work hard along with our prayers for results. At the same time, we should not expect divine intervention or any protection from God from physical harm. On the other hand, if someone believes that they were saved by God from a disaster of the sort, who are we to say (while it is unlikely) it was God who stopped them from getting any harm?

Just a few articles with my religions' views on prayer and protection in that way:

The Power of Prayer
Does Praying Do Any Good?
Should Christians Expect Divine Protection?

Edit: It's funny. We have a book that gives us a scriptural thought per day for every day and a little comment that goes along with it. This was todays:

Time and unforeseen occurrence befall them all.—Eccl. 9:11.

The three faithful Hebrews who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold did not presume that Jehovah would miraculously protect them from physical harm. (Dan. 3:17, 18) As matters turned out, Jehovah did deliver them from the flames of the fiery furnace. (Dan. 3:21-27) Even in Bible times, however, miraculous deliverance was the exception rather than the rule. Many faithful servants of Jehovah died at the hands of opposers. (Heb. 11:35-37) Can we definitively say whether Jehovah did or did not intervene in specific cases today? No. Still, an individual who has escaped a dangerous situation may feel that Jehovah intervened. It would be presumptuous for others to take issue with his feeling. At the same time, we must realistically acknowledge that many faithful Christians have died as a result of persecution or other tragic circumstances. w08 9/15 2:8, 9

 

[Coffee Lover]

You pray for both: for God to save them AND for God to give you the strength to help. If you are completely unsure, then you pray to God for the answer.