Do you think that God considers prayers about events that have already happened but about which you don't know the outcome? Say for example a friend was to take an exam at 5 pm today. If I prayed that he would do well on the exam tomorrow, would that prayer potentially have an effect on the outcome of my friend's exam?

I know of at least one reformed person who believes this, and it seems reasonable since God of course knows about the prayer before I ever prayed it (or even existed for that matter). A tension (in my mind) then comes with praying for salvation for people who are dead. My stepmother recently passed away, and to my knowledge she never professed Christ. However, I shared the gospel with her many times leading up to her death and have some hope that I may still see her in heaven. If God answers prayers for things that have already happened but about which we don't know the outcome, then it would make sense to pray for the salvation of those who have died but about which you don't know the status of their salvation when they died. In fact, since we don't truly "know" whether anyone is saved (except ourselves), you could justify praying for salvation for anyone who has ever lived, regardless of their salvation. That seems to be very, very unbiblical and reminds me of praying for the dead in Catholicism and baptizing the dead in Mormonism.

What are your thoughts? I know this is a long post, but I wanted to go into detail about the potential problems instead of just leaving it totally up for discussion. Thanks.

__________________
Joshua F
Layman
Mountain View Community Church (Missionary Church Denomination)
Johnstown, CO