Hey, Why Aren't My Prayers Being Answered?

HEY, WHY AREN'T MY PRAYERS BEING ANSWERED?

New Christians learning how to pray may look excitedly for their prayers to be answered, and wonder what's wrong when they pray for something or someone, and their prayer doesn't get answered; or at least, not in the way they expect. They may not know that every prayer they pray, God hears, but He has three ways of answering them, and two out of three are not necessarily how we want them answered, but that's God's way. God's three answers to prayer are yes, no, and wait, but often in our humanity we want the answers to always be yes, and we want His response to be immediate, but again, God doesn't work that way, and we really don't want His answer to be no, and He may try our patience with His answer of "wait". Let's look at how prayer started and evolved into what we know of it today. There is a way to pray effectively, but again, you don't always get the answer you want.

In the days of Abram, or Abraham, it was considered a blessing from God to have a son, an heir to hand down to. God promised Abram a son in Gen. 12:2, but when would God answer the prayer of Abram to have a son? Gen. 17:21 - 24 gives us that Abraham was 100 years old when his wife Sarah finally bore Isaac! It may seem an extreme answer "wait" from God to you, but imagine the joy Abraham and Sarah must've had to have their son Isaac finally born well into their old age! While "wait" tries our patience, when the answer is finally "yes", imagine the joy a person may have such as the joy Abraham and Sarah had.

When you pray, do you know it is a demonstration to God that you believe in Him? Consider 1 Sam. 12:23; "Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:" Samuel actually considered it a sin against the Lord not to pray! This is not confined to the Old Testament, because in James 5:16 we are also commanded to pray for one another, that we might be healed, and it says to confess our faults to one another, that the other may pray wisely for your sake. Now consider the prayer of one of the greatest prophets of the bible, Elijah, in 1 Kings 17:20 - 23; "And he cried unto the Lord, and said, 'O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?' And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, 'O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.' And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth." Note that Elijah prayed for a good thing, the resurrection of the boy, and that the other person involved was a widow. There are a number of references to widows and the fatherless where God commends we take care in how we treat them, and here is an instance where a prayer was answered immediately "yes" by God.

Let us look upon another example of the Lord saying yes to a prayer. 2 Kings 20:1 - 6 has God changing the fate of a king due to his effective prayer; "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, 'I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for Mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'" Note how the king took a position of humility, his face to the wall as he prayed, and he cried unbridled tears, a sign of a genuinely contrite heart. Our compassionate, merciful, forgiving God answered Hezekiah's prayer with a yes, and sent the prophet Isaiah back to the king to tell him the Lord granted him 15 more years of life! Unfortunately, his son, Manasseh, did so much evil in the sight of the Lord, prophecies against Judah resulted, so some prayers should not be prayed, and we should trust God. It can be a marvel when God answers a prayer like Hezekiah's, knowing the result will be offspring highly abominable in their behavior toward God.

1 John 3:19 - 24 has this to say about prayer; "And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." We can sometimes be too strict in examining our lives, in our judgment of ourselves, and this can rob us of the confidence we should have when we pray. If we do not come confidently to the Father with our petitions, our prayers may be answered with a "no". We need to believe all that Christ is, not just for the salvation He gifted us with, but also for answered prayer, as He is our Mediator to the Father. Ask for things of the Father in Jesus' name, and believe, just as Jesus commanded, that you will receive them. If they are in His will, you will receive them. He commanded this in Matt. 18:19 - 20; "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Whereas more than one of us are gathered in fellowship praying for a good thing, believing we shall receive, Christ assures us He is with us as we pray. In Matt. 7:7 - 11 it is written that Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Again, here it is said by the Lord that if we ask, believing, for any good thing, we shall receive it. And in Mark 11:23 - 24 it says, "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Once again Christ tells us strong belief that we shall receive what we pray for, that we shall have. If you pray for the recovery of some person in 4th stage cancer, and you allow the grimness of health and the sureness of the disease under ordinary circumstances to cause doubt to prevail that your prayer will be answered "no", then you will probably get the answer "no". After all, didn't you expect such an answer? However, Jesus is telling you right here in this passage of scripture that if you have faith as strong as that of Elijah's in what I have previously written, He will bring the dead back to life! In John 14:12 - 14 it is written, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it."

Now at this point I would like to show a part of the gospel where Jesus appears to explain how fasting must be combined with prayer to make it possible to expel a certain demon. If you go to Matt. 17:14 - 18, Jesus rebukes a devil, and it departs from a child. But in Matt. 19 - 21, this is written; "Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, 'Why could not we cast him out?' And Jesus said unto them, 'Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.'" Apparently the apostles tried previously to expel this demon, and they couldn't do it, and also apparent is that they did not fast prior to attempting to expel it, which would account for Jesus bringing it up. Nevertheless, He also points to their lack of belief that they could do it that the devil refused to leave the child. This points again to what I said about trying to pray for someone in a final stage of cancer; any doubt can equal a "no" answer.

In 2 Kings 20:2, Hezekiah faced the wall when he prayed, and his prayer was effective. Jesus also speaks of standing when praying in Mark 11:25; "And when ye stand praying...". But kneeling is also an acceptable position, as in Dan. 6:10 - 11; "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God." The position doesn't seem to be a problem for God to find acceptable, but there do seem to be some problems with the methodology involved, which Jesus explains in Matt. 6:5 - 8; "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him." If someone has it in their heart to pray in public and for the wrong reason, it is NOT condoned by God, they have their reward from people looking at them as honorable for doing so. But if you pray in private, where people do not see, this is an honorable method of prayer that the Father is guaranteed to reward openly as it is the promise of Christ in this passage of scripture. Note also that Jesus says not to say the same words over and over, or the same prayer all the time, as it hardly comes from the heart.

More instruction on prayer is found in 1 Tim. 2:1- 8; "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." Here Paul instructs that we pray for one another, including our senators and presidents and all others in authority, whether we approve of them or have a high disdain for them; note no reason for omitting praying for anyone is given. Men are to lead in public prayer, and there can be no wrath or doubting present in the mind for prayer to be acceptable.

Now there are two scripture passages that explain how prayer will not be answered by God. The first is in James 1:5 - 8; "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." If someone goes back and forth between believing and unbelief, God isn't going to give them anything they ask, for throughout this teaching, you can find passage after passage of scripture wherein it is written that you MUST believe to get a "yes" answer.

There is one more reason for God not to answer prayer, and it is found in James 4:3; "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." This means if a person asks for something of God for selfish reasons, or for an evil cause, that person is wasting their breath. These people can be people who believe that there is a God, but do not have a relationship with Him, or if they do, they do not realize what they are asking for is selfish or has an evil end to it, or it is not in God's will for you. For example, asking God to damn someone, or kill them, is against the commandment of Jesus in Matt. 5:44, wherein He commands us to love our enemies, bless them who curse us, and even to pray for them who persecute and use us! At the worst, we might ask God to put distance between us and a persecutor, but to ask harm upon them is amiss. Then there are those who ask God for a million dollars, or a Mercedes Benz, or some other thing of worldly value, and these are examples of asking amiss. Still other forms of asking amiss are petitions of a carnal nature or other perverse things.

Lastly, don't forget to thank God for answered prayer, as the Samaritan leper in Luke 17:12 - 19; "And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests." And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." And He said unto him, "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."

So now we have seen that one of the greatest pillars of successful prayer are belief. We should pray for things in the realm of the Father's will, and not for selfish or evil things. The cornerstone, of course, is asking in Jesus' name, as Jesus instructed, believing He will do what you pray for. Pray selflessly more often than for things to your benefit, and pray both for those who love you and those who hate you. Finally, don't forget to thank Him who answered your prayer!