Unanswered Prayer

It is popular to say that no prayer goes unanswered as long as we take "No" as an answer.  Other possible responses to our prayers, other than getting what we asked, include "Wait" and "No, but here is something better."  However when God responds in one of those ways, we can know it.  We "hear" His answer in our spirit.  What about when nothing at all happens?

Hindrances to prayer, things that keep us from communicating with the Father, fall into two basic categories.  There are things that keep us from being heard.  Then there are things that keep us from asking.

Jeremiah found out that there were conditions under which the Lord would refuse to hear His people's cries (7:16; 11:14; 14:11-12; 15:1).  The Psalmist wrote, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear" (Psalm 66:18 NKJV).  Examples of sins that block prayer (Isaiah 59:1-2) include idolatry in the heart (Ezekiel 14:3), failure to help the poor (Proverbs 21:13), mistreatment of one's spouse (1 Peter 3:7), self-indulgence (James 4:3), and lack of faith (James 1:6-7).  This list is representative, not exhaustive.

One preacher who grew up on a farm told how he would sneak off behind the barn to hide his smoking from his father.  Once while he was indulging his habit, he heard his father coming.  Hiding the cigar behind his back, he tried to distract his father by calling attention to a circus poster on the barn wall and asking if he could go.  His father replied, "Son, never ask for a favor with a smoldering disobedience behind your back."  Those who would approach the Lord must have "clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3-4).  Only through Jesus may we approach the throne with confidence of receiving what we need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Sin may keep us from receiving what we ask.  However, in His grace God often gives us what we don't deserve.  He uses kindness to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  So even non-believers will sometimes have their prayers answered.

But there is a prayer that goes unanswered 100% of the time--the prayer that goes unoffered.  It is like the basketball player who said he failed to score on all the shots he failed to take.  James said, "You have not because you ask not" (James 4:2).  If we are too lazy or too distracted or too busy to ask, then God will not answer.  Just as there is a vital connection between prayer and faith (Mark 11:24), so is there a link between lack of prayer and unbelief.  The more we believe in the God who answers prayer, the more we pray.  The more we pray, the stronger grows our trust in Him who answers.  On the other hand, if we have little faith that God will answer, it is unlikely that we will pray.  Then when we don't see answers to prayer, what little faith we might have had diminishes.  Soon we find ourselves going without prayer, serving Him in our own way and in our own strength.  Such a life is doomed to fruitlessness.

Just as the only way to learn to swim is to get in the water, so the only way to learn to pray is by praying.  Let's start with baby steps or by crawling.  And if we can't do either of those, let's learn to roll over.  But we must begin.  God will be as delighted with our efforts as a parent is in his child's first steps.  He will help us.  He will teach us.

Let us pray.

Prayer Sure to Be Answered

There is one sure way to know that we will receive what we pray for.  The Bible clearly tells us:  This is the assurance we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).  When we ask God for what He already wants to give us, getting it is a sure thing.  When we request that He do what He already intends to do, what could be more certain?

Before you dismiss this truth as a rhetorical gimmick, consider the fact that God knows better than we do what our needs are (Matthew 6:8).  He is far wiser than we are in knowing what needs to happen.  He is far more loving, wanting to give us the best, than we can imagine.  As the old saying goes, "God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him."  So why wouldn't our chief desire be to pray according to His will?

But how are we to know what His will is?  Just to ask for something and then say "if it be Thy will" is not praying in faith (another requirement for answered prayer according to James 1:6-7).  One way to know God's will is with the aid of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:27).  I believe another way is when God puts the same burden independently on more than one person's heart (Matthew 18:19).  But the most common way to know God's will is through His word.  We know what His will is because He tells us.

As I have written in a previous series of posts (for example "All the World in All the Word"), the Bible shows us that God's chief aim is to extend His glory to all the nations.  Scripture clearly says that it is not God's will that any should perish but that all should be saved (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4).  God's commands, the Great Commission for instance, show us that His purpose is to reach the nations with the gospel.  Nothing about God's will could be clearer.  Nothing about prayer could be surer.

However, just because it is God's will does not mean that a simple request will automatically come to pass.  There are several reasons why we must persist in prayer, but that issue will require another posting.  Nevertheless, when we pray for the salvation of lost individuals, lost nations, or lost people groups, we can pray with confidence that someway, sometime our prayer will be answered.  George Mueller reportedly prayed more than 60 years for the salvation of two men before they were saved, one of them after Mueller's death.  But his prayer was answered; it was God's will.

Let's pray today with assurance, even boldness, for the salvation of the nations.