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Is God our Miracle ATM Machine?
How to make your prayers more efficacious
“When he was going back to the city in the morning, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went over to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again.” And immediately the fig tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, “How was it that the fig tree withered immediately?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:19–22)
Introduction
Two important questions: Does God really answer all of our prayers? Can humans really influence God to act?
We know for a fact that God does not answer all prayers, otherwise there will be no poverty and suffering in this world.
For the latter question, I suppose there is some biblical evidence that God sometimes bends his will according to our petitions. Consider the wedding at Cana and how the blessed Mother of God (Mary) managed to influence Jesus into turning water into wine.
