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.
Believest thou this?
50-0115 §59
When your pastor prays for you, say, "Well, he must not be a man of God, or God would've heard his prayer." What about your faith? It's your faith that touches God, not altogether his prayer. You're obeying God's Word. And when you obey God's Word, God's under obligation to answer you, if you believe Him. It lays in you. Don't blame the other man. All right. God shows signs and wonders and miracles and everything, but look like the people don't get a--what it is.
Perseverance
62-0218 §36
...ersistent, trying to achieve something. All men through all ages has been that way. Now we take, for instance, Noah. Noah was very persistent after he had found the will of God. You've got to first find the will of God. Now, you've got to find the will of God this morning, as you're coming to be prayed for, you've got to find the will of God, whether it's God's will to heal you or not. The next thing you have to do, if you're coming to get salvation, you've got to find out whether it's God's will to save you or not...
God doesn't call man to judgement without warning
63-0724 §28
When you plead anything to God, you got to be a reason for it. It's just like the Scripture that I so often refer to, "If you say to this mountain, 'Be moved,' and don't doubt, but believe that what you've said will come to pass, you can have what you said." Now, that's altogether controlled on motive and objective, see, or it won't happen, see. You just can't go out here... That's where many of us makes many mistakes, is going out and say, "Now, I'll show you I got faith to do this." Now, you're wrong to begin wit...
Unbelief does not hinder God
62-0128M §30
We hear so much today about God being a good God. And that's true. He is a good God. We believe that, but He's also a God of judgment. In order to be good He has to bring judgment. To keep his law there must be... There must be penalty to law, or law is non-effective. If there's a law that says, "To run a stoplight is against the law," then if there's no penalty to that law to be executed, then the law is no good at all. Just might as well run it, or anything you want to, 'cause there's no law. But when you trespas...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §50
God permitted Israel to take a law in Exodus, the nineteenth chapter, when grace had already give them a prophet, pillar of fire, a sacrificed lamb, a delivering power. But they cried out for a law. It wasn't God's will, but it was injected because man wanted it. And he was cursed by the very law that he wanted. It's best to have God's will. That's what He taught us: "Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come, thine will be done." We must submit ourselves to his will and his Word. Don't question it; believe it. Don't try...