02 - Why Your Prayers Aren't Answered 2016 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Pray Through

Part 2

"Why Your Prayers Aren't Answered"

1 John 5:14-15 "And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. 15 And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us." (Living Bible)

I want to talk today about "Why some prayers go unanswered."

Let me begin by stating that God answers every prayer in one of three ways: Yes, No, or Wait.

And sometimes He says, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Kidding aside....let's look at these three possible answers to prayer one at a time.

First,

I. When God says "No."

There are several reasons God may say NO in response to our prayers.

First, we may not have prayed with the wisdom, foresight, and knowledge of His highest will for us.

We so easily pray selfish prayers, short-sighted prayers, flesh-driven prayers, ill-advised prayers, and God simply says NO for our own good.

James writes, "You ask, but you do not receive because your reasons for asking are wrong. You want these things only to please yourselves" (4:3).

The Bible tells us in Romans, "We do not know what we ought to pray for..." (Ro. 8:26)

And so, because we don't have the wisdom and insight that God does, He says NO for our own good.

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Another reason God says "NO" is if there is unconfessed sin in our lives...

"The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart." (Ps. 66:18)

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

When there is unconfessed sin, God's only desire for us is that we confess it and get clean.

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Another cause of unanswered prayer is UNFORGIVENESS:

In Mark 11 Jesus taught that answered prayer and forgiving others are tied together:

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins.” Mark 11:24-25

Now, God’s NOT turning the screw like this to be mean.

Recent studies have shown that learning how to forgive is crucial to our well-being...

They have found that:

People who do not forgive the wrongs committed against them have a harder time making and keeping friends.

They have higher rates of divorce.

And they tend to suffer from stress, depression, and cardio-vascular disease.

So forgiveness not only clears the way for answered prayer, it also keeps us healthy!

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Another cause of unanswered prayer is aimed at Christian husbands...

The Apostle Peter wrote to the men in the church of his day:

“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” I Peter 3:7

In other words, men....

1.treat your wives lovingly

2.Be considerate of their needs

3.Treat them with respect

4.Understand that they are your partners in your faith

If you don’t – God says it can hinder your prayers!

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Now, the 2nd way God answers prayer is...

II. When He says "Wait."

Ecclesiastes 3:1 gives us an undeniable, irrefutable truth that is attached to our prayer life:

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:"

This verse tells us that every purpose of God for our lives has a timer attached to it.

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Two important words are used in this passage--TIME and SEASON.

TIME is the Greek word CHRONOS, and it simply refers to the passing of time.

We say "What time is it?" And someone replies 11'o clock....

That is CHRONOS, the simple passing of "chronological time," the "duration" of something, like "the service lasted for 1 hour."

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The second word is "SEASON."

"There is TIME for everything, and a SEASON for every activity under the sun."

Season is the Greek word KAIROS...

Kairos means "the opportune time, the suitable time, the right moment, the favorable moment, the ripe moment for something to happen or for a decision to be made."

The Bible talks about "the fullness of time" when something occurred or will occur when the God-ordained season has come.

Eph. 1:10 "And this is the plan: In the fullness of time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth."

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For example:

In Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares, the Lord refers to the judgment that will happen at His appearing:

“At that time [kairos] I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn” (Matthew 13:30).

By using kairos here, Jesus is telling us that Judgment Day is the appointed time for man to answer for his sins.

In Luke's gospel we see The angel of God informing Zacariahs that there was “an appointed time” for his son, John the Baptist, to be born (Luke 1:20).

In Luke 12:42 the Lord again uses kairos when He promises to reward His servants at “the appointed time."

And once more in Luke, Jesus predicts that Israel would be judged “because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you” (Luke 19:44).

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Paul encourages us believers, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season (kairos) we will reap, if we do not give up" (Gal. 4:4).

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The Bible warns that we should take full advantage of the opportunities (kairos--seasons) God gives us.

The Book of Acts says that, as Governor Felix was listening to the Apostle Paul speak, "[Paul] reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix grew nervous and said,

‘Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity [kairos] I will summon you’” (Acts 24:25).

Felix wanted to pick his own opportunity to respond to the gospel, ignoring the God-ordained opportunity of the moment.

From everything we know historically, Felix died lost.

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Paul regularly stressed the urgency of responding to the gospel: “I tell you, now is the time [kairos] of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

There is a window of opportunity to accept God’s salvation, and we do not know when that window will close!

Unbelievers are urged to respond to the God-given opportunity to believe the gospel.

Jesus’ first recorded sermon was simple: “The time [kairos] has come. . . . The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:8).

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And as Christians we're exhorted to take advantage of God-ordained "seasons" to serve the Lord.

Paul writes, “As we have opportunity [kairos], let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).

We must be “making the most of every opportunity [kairos], because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).

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Now, here is my point regarding answered prayer...

If there is a "right time" for everything, there is also a "wrong time."

And if it's the "out of season" time for our prayer to be answered, God says WAIT.

You see, We measure answered or unanswered prayer by CHRONOS, by how quickly (or not) God answers.

And if the answer tarries, we assume God didn't hear us.

But God doesn't answer prayer according to CHRONOS...

God answers prayer according to KAIROS--is it the right season, the ripe time, the opportune time, the fullness of time to answer this prayer!

This is why I say, DELAY is not DENIAL.

God may be saying to you today, "It's in My will for you, just not now."

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And then finally, there are those wonderful times...

III. When God says "Yes"

When a prayer is prayed in His will, in the right season, by a blood bought child of God, God answers speedily...

He immediately answers the prayer of salvation.

He immediately answers the prayer of repentance.

He immediately answers the prayer of "casting our cares onto Him" by giving us His abiding peace, and so on.

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But what if your heart is right with God, you've prayed in faith, and you fully believe your'e praying according to His will, and He still doesn't answer your prayer?

That is when you say, "God is all-knowing and can see things that I can't.

The Bible tells us to trust God, rather than our own understanding of what's best for us:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

The Bible tells us God works in ways that we sometimes can't understand:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declared the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

1 Corinthians 13:12 tells us that now we see things dimly, as in a mirror, but someday we will see clearly and understand how God answered our prayers!

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Let's Pray

He was such a Master at prayer that one day His disciples requested, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Jesus responded with what we call "The Lord's Prayer."

The Lord’s Prayer gives us the basic “ingredients” that should go into prayer.

Here is how it breaks down.

“Our Father in heaven” is teaching us who to address our prayers to—the Father.

“Hallowed be your name” is telling us to worship God, and to praise Him for who He is.

The phrase “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a reminder to us that we are to pray for God’s plan in our lives and the world, not our own plan.

We are to pray for God’s will to be done, not for our own selfish desires, which is a key to answered prayer.

Then we are encouraged to ask God for the things we need in “give us today our daily bread.”

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” reminds us to confess our sins to God and to turn from them, and also to forgive others as God has forgiven us.

The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” is a plea for help with victory over sin and a request for protection from the attacks of the devil.

All of the ingredients for an effective time of prayer are here in the Lord's Prayer!

Finally, prayer in it's purest form is...

IV. Coming into agreement with God's will...

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 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).

Many of our prayers aren't answered because we're praying for something that is out of God's will for us.

This is why it's always safe and wise to pray the Scriptures...

Through the Bible I can easily find things that are clearly in His will...

For Someone's salvation

That my basic needs are met

That I walk in His peace

That the gospel is proclaimed

That people are set free from bondage

That His truth prevails over evil

That doors of service for Him are opened

And on it goes...

Summary: Four basic truths of prayer are:

Prayer is coming into agreement with God's will