On Unanswered Prayers…

Are you feeling your prayers are being unanswered?

As a believer who delights in the Grace of God, you ought to constantly enjoy the audience of Heaven to your requests.

‘…This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us…’ (1John 5:14)

But…what if it just seems the answers are not forthcoming?

Hmm…

Well, there are 3 scriptural suggestive reasons to why the prayer of a believer might be seeming ‘unanswered’.

It is either the REQUEST is wrong, the TIMING is wrong or YOU are wrong.

Now let’s briefly explore the 3points:

1) WRONG REQUESTS: have you wondered at how children just like to request for anything they see with their parents? A parent might be cutting a fabric with a razor blade and you see a child trying to collect the blade from the parent! Wrong Request!

‘…ye ask, and receive NOT, because YE ASK AMISS…’ (James 4:3)

It’s a simple equation: you ask amiss…you receive not!

A mother met Jesus and prayed her 2 children will be most exalted with Him in the coming Kingdom. Jesus response was simple: ‘…Ye know not what ye ask…’ (Matt 20:22)

Wrong Request.

Some folks pray for ‘prosperity’ when they ought to pray intensely for ‘wisdom’ first.

‘…the prosperity of fools shall destroy them…’ (Prov 1:32)

If they lack wisdom in what they are asking, then they are invariably asking to be destroyed. Hence, the love of God redirects it as a wrong request.

2) WRONG TIMING: how easily will you release your car key to your 9 year old son? Yes, he has a right to your car but the timing is wrong. ‘…For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise…’ (Heb 10:36).

How easily will you also release your car key to your spouse that doesn’t know how to drive yet? Definitely, the fact that other people’s spouses are driving would not be a reason to put your unlearned spouse on the driver’s seat on the express highway!

‘…Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass…’ (Ps 37:7)

There are sometimes God will prefer to answer you ‘little by little’ based on the surrounding factors to your request.

‘…The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you LITTLE BY LITTLE. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the WILD ANIMALS WOULD MULTIPLY against you…’ (Deut 7:22)

At times, God might just want you to slow down, and receive your petitions ‘little by little’, as you allow Him deal with unseen circumstances around you that could have posed a threat to the answers you desire when they manifest.

YOU COULD BE WRONG: This bothers mainly on your motives and spiritual growth. ‘…Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it UPON YOUR LUSTS…’ (James 4:3).

There is a call for discipline by God, if as a believer our demands aren’t matching with our spiritual identity and growth.

Take for example, the Psalmist said: ‘…If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me…’ (Psalm 66:18)

Now you may say, Pastor Dami, are you saying sin causes unanswered prayers under Grace?

The Answer is NO, it doesn’t! ‘…for there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…’ (Romans 8:1)

A careful read of Hebrews 4:15-16 explains that because believers have a High Priest in Heaven who fully sympathizes with our weaknesses and was tempted in all points as we are but without sin, then we can be sure to receive Grace and Mercy instead of Judgment!

That verse never said ‘…if I COMMIT iniquity, the Lord will not hear me…’

Rather, it said ‘…if I REGARD iniquity in my heart…’

The NIV brings it out better: ‘…If I had CHERISHED sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened…’(Psalm 66:18 NIV)

In the Father-son relationship, we have with God, we can’t be REGARDING spiritually harmful habits and not expect His loving intervention. That a Father refuses to buy a candy for a son who is beginning to be a glutton for candies – is not an act of punishment but love. God’s chastisements are NOT punishments, they are necessary actions to shape us for the glorious future He has prepared for us. Hence, if a believer experiences unanswered prayers for something due to this, then it is not an act of divine judgement – but a brief display of Fatherly love to deliver us from the future danger of such attitude and encourage us to embrace spiritual maturity.

‘…because the Lord disciplines the one He loves…’ (Heb 12:6)

Once we get what He is trying to let us learn or know, then we are considered safe to receive answers for the requests we have.

‘…No discipline seems pleasant at the time… Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it…’ (Heb 12:11 NIV)

Some people became confirmed atheists and haters of God, when they became prosperous! Would it have been nice if God had not allowed their prosperity demands until they ‘grew’?

‘…Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD?…’ (Prov 30:8-9)

Hmm…

So here is a quick summary to this lesson:

When your REQUEST is wrong, God’s response is – NO!

When the TIMING is wrong, God’s response is – SLOW!

When YOU are wrong, God’s response is – GROW!

But when the request is right, the timing is right and you are right…God’s response is – GO!

In conclusion, I want you to know that God delights in answering your petitions. If it is GOOD for you, He is willing to GIVE it to you. And as you continue in prayers, He will clear off whatever force could be hindering your answers.

‘…For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: NO GOOD THING WILL HE WITHHOLD from them that walk uprightly…’ (Psalm 84:11)

I therefore pray for you, that henceforth in your prayer life:

‘the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you…’ (Numbers 6:25)

In Jesus Holy name.

Amen.