Is It Then Possible If I Do Not Cooperate with God in Prayer for a Thing, to Thwart the Will of God from Happening Concerning That Thing?
1) Direct Answer
No—you cannot overthrow God’s sovereign purpose. But yes—if you refuse to pray, you can forfeit or delay the manifestation for yourself, invite chastening, or be passed by while God fulfills His will through another.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- God’s sovereign counsel stands: “No purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2); “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10); “None can stay His hand” (Daniel 4:35).
- Yet God ties many outcomes to prayer and faith: “You have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2). In Nazareth, “He did not many mighty works… because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58).
- God looks for intercessors to stay judgment: “I sought for a man… to stand in the gap… but I found none. Therefore I have poured out My indignation” (Ezekiel 22:30–31).
- Intercession changes what we experience: Moses stood in the breach and God spared the people (Exodus 32:11–14; Numbers 14:19–20).
- If one vessel refuses, God raises another: “If you hold your peace… deliverance… shall arise to the Jews from another place; but you… shall be destroyed” (Esther 4:14).
- God sometimes permits a lesser path when men resist His higher will (Numbers 22; Psalm 106:15; 1 Samuel 8:7,22), but that does not overturn His ultimate purpose.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Think of two levels. God’s unchangeable purpose cannot be stopped. But your share in that purpose often comes through the door of prayer. If you won’t use the key, the door may not open for you—yet God will still open a door somewhere to complete His plan.
- Prayerlessness doesn’t make God weak; it simply rejects the very means God ordained for you to receive. That’s why Scripture says, “Ask,” and warns that unbelief can limit what God does in a place.
4) Reinforcing Statement
So don’t stand aside and lose your portion. Pray the promise. God will do His will—but He calls you to be the vessel through which it comes.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Elisha the Prophet
56-1002E §61
When all the Spirit of God that worked through Joseph, through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, Joseph, Elijah, Moses, all the prophets, and then finally wound up in the full Godhead bodily in the Lord Jesus. And He projects it out tonight. And that's His Spirit standing at your heart's door. [Brother Branham knocks on the pulpit several times.] " And, Lord, as You're passing by my way, I want to lay out a welcome mat at my little door. And I want to enlighten my thoughts with the perfume of the Lily of the V...
The mark of the beast
56-0715 §71
And now, Lord, give us faith to operate this power. We see when You give the disciples power and told them to raise the dead, heal the sick, and cast out evil spirits. We find that they were defeated. And they said to You, "Why couldn't we do it after You give us the power?" You said, "Because of your unbelief." God, take away my unbelief and the unbelief of this audience. And I approach Thee, Lord, as if I were dying. And I stand in the breach here this morning, between the living and dead. And I ask Thee, dear Go...
Why?
62-0622E §73
That woman sitting right back there praying for her husband, red polka-dot dress on. If she'll believe with all of her heart, God will grant the request to her, if she'll just absolutely believe it. God bless you. I don't know the woman. She don't need no prayer card. Have you got one? You don't? You have a prayer card? You have one? Well, you don't have to use it. You don't have to come in the line. You just don't doubt what you've said ... what's been told you to be the truth, and you can have what you said. Amen...
Obey the voice of the Angel
50-0713 §9
This Word that we have just read, was God sending Moses. Moses was born an odd, peculiar birth. It was just time for the prophetic wheel of God, to cause then it to move up and to have something to come to pass that He'd promised Abraham to take His people out, and He did. God always moves just in time. You believe that? Now, we're at the day; we're in the last days. Just how close to the end, I do not know: no one knows, not even the Angels or the Son of God; the Father, only, knows. But we're in the last days, an...
Stand Still
57-0518 §51
Now, if He would come down tonight in His power, and you go to pray and say, "Lord, I want to touch Your garment." And let at least two or three in this building with faith enough to reach and touch Him, to a place that His sovereign grace would turn back and speak with my lips, and tell you what your trouble is or what you want, as He did when He was here on earth, would you believe He raised from the dead then? The Bible said, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established." I'm going to ch...