Why God Doesn't Always Answer Your Prayers Pt. 1

Intro

This morning we are looking at the question, Why God Doesn’t Always Answer Your Prayers. I would say this is one of the most important things for you as a believer to understand. I mean, who hasn’t asked that question? How many have had every single prayer they’ve prayed answered? Sometimes it is OK, but other times there have been earnest prayers offered with no answer. Why is that?

So I have broken this message into two parts. I have 10 reasons why God doesn’t always answer your prayers, and this morning we are going to park on the two big ones. It isn’t that the other 8 are less important, I believe you need to understand all 10 reasons. I am saying that these first 2 are foundational, and if you don’t grasp these two, the other 8 may cause unnecessary confusion.

So, let’s dive in.

1. God Doesn’t Always Answer Your Prayers In The Manner You Ask

in the first three parts of the series, you have seem how God is the good Father who wants to give His children good things. You have seen that God is actually eager to answer your prayers.

But God is also perfect in wisdom and knowledge. Isa 55:9

Isaiah 55:9 NLT

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

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This means that the answer to our prayers may not be exactly what we expect it to be. God in His perfect wisdom knows the consequences of the answers to our prayers, both good and bad. He can see the eternal results of the prayers you are offering.

It is the same as parents today with their kids. Do you always give your kids everything they want the moment they want it? No. Why? Because that snack that they desperately need in this moment is going to wreck the lunch that is literally coming out of the oven. It doesn’t mean that they will never get a snack ever again in their life, it just means that right now is not the best time.

Just as a parent operates on a level that their kids do not, God operates on a level that you do not. That means that even the prayers offered with the best intentions may not be answered at this time because the timing is not right. It might mean that God answers your prayers in a way that you are not expecting. You always have 20/20 vision when you look back. Sometimes you need to look back at prayers you’ve offered in order to realize that the best thing God could have done was not answer.

There are times God does answer your prayers, but because it is not exactly the way that you asked or in the time you asked, it seems like the prayer was not answered. The reality is that God operates on a level you can comprehend, and the answers are sometimes bigger then you can see.

None of this is to minimize you, but to maximize our God. Praise God His perspective is bigger then ours, and that He answers our prayers in the best possible way at the best possible time.

2. God Doesn’t Always Answer the Prayers You Don’t Pray

one of the things we looked at a couple of weeks ago is how God has elected to accomplish His will on earth through His church. That means that sometimes God waits for His people to pray before He acts. We looked at the Isaiah passage, where God looked down from heaven and saw a deviation from truth, abandonment of justice, and no one interceding for the situation.

James 4:2 NLT

You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

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This is the point we are going to park on for the rest of the morning. I think there are several reasons why you don’t pray like you should, and my goal in pointing these out is not to discourage you but encourage you. If you relate to any of these points, know that you are not alone in any of them, and the easiest way to overcome them is simply to start praying more. My hope this morning is that you will feel the Spirit drawing you to pray more, to not let any of these reasons hold you back.

Reason 1: Canadian Culture

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this might seem odd, but here me out. As Canadians, we are renowned for our ability to avoid offending or inconveniencing somone. Have you ever used this line?

“Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but could you pass the salt?”

Even beyond being an inconvenience, we just don’t want to ask for favors. We don’t want to owe anyone anything.

Now imagine of this mindset infiltrated your prayer life. Maybe you have even prayed this prayer or had this thought. God is dealing with cosmic and nation level things, why would He be worried about my little issue? I won’t bother praying because it really isn’t worth His time.

This mindest quickly tells us that we are not worth God’s time. Yet your Heavenly Father, whose power and ability is far beyond our comprehension, sees your challenge or issue with the same level of concern as the cosmic concerns because for Him, there is no difference. But His love for you is huge, and you have His undivided attention. If it concerns you, He loves you enough to be concerned about it as well. You are not an inconvenience.

Reason 2: Naturalist Worldview

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this worldview is prevalent in North American culture, and it basically suggests that if you can’t see it, study it, or measure it scientifically, it doesn’t exist. All of life’s problems can be solved with science in some form or another. In the naturalist worldview, there is no room for the supernatural.

this is probably the reason that many Christians turn to prayer as a last resort. I will do everything in my power, within my ability to comprehend, solve the issue that is before.

This isn’t a rejection of science. I believe that if science and religion do not operate as two sides of the coin, one of them is wrong. They need to work together because they answer different life questions. But there are times that science is only treating the symptoms of an issue that has spiritual roots. You have a spiritual enemy that is plotting against you, and you need to use spiritual weapons to conquer him.

Reason 3: A Reaction to the Prosperity Gospel

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If you are unfamiliar with the prosperity gospel, it essential teaches that God wants you to be healthy and weathly and suffering and sickness have no place among God’s children.

The prosperity gospel has no room for the fact that suffering is a way with which God grows our character. It ignores the fact that true wealth, according to Paul, is godliness with contentment. The prosperity gospel was more concerned about me, instead of being concerned about we.

The problem is that the prosperity gospel became quite prevalent in North America, and much of the church reacted very strongly to it. In some cases, because of the name it and claim it approach, many believers just stopped praying.

Remember, it is not that God doesn’t want to give you good things; He’s a good Father who wants to bless you. But part of your growth is to become more kingdom minded. It is OK to pray about our concerns, but the ultimate goal is to see God’s will accomplished here on earth as it is in heaven.

Reason 4: You Don’t Think You Measure Up

John 15:5–8 NLT

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

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so the prerequisite here is that as long as you remain in Christ, you can ask anything of Jesus and your prayers will be answered. But what if you don’t remain perfectly in Christ? What if you go a week without having quiet time with God? What happens if you fall short in your spiritual development?

Do you know that if abiding perfectly in God is the prerequisite of answered prayer, Jesus is the only one that would have ever had His prayers answered. Yet we know that God answers prayer in spite of that short coming.

If you pray, the more you pray, you will soon find yourself abiding in Christ more and more.

Reason 5: You Give Up Too Soon

you are supposed to pray things through or until something happens. You don’t stop praying until God tells you otherwise.

In Exodus 17, Joshua was at war with one of Israel’s enemies, and as long as Moses held his hands up, the army of Israel had victory.

Isaiah 62:6–7 NLT

O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord. Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

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there are lots of examples in scripture of God telling His people to not grow weary in prayer, and the same applies to you today. Do not grow weary, pray until something happens. Don’t give up, do not let the Lord rest until you get your answer

Reason 6: You Don’t Pray Because You Are Afraid of What God May Ask of You

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often when someone prays, the hope is that because you prayed about it, God will deal with is and it is out of your hands. Sometimes when you pray about something, God gives you the solution, but it is going to require something of you. That something may take you out of your comfort zome or may cost you something, and so it is just easier to not ask.

The truth that you need to hear is that if God is asking you to do something, the reward if you follow through is going to far outweigh anything it may have cost you.

Remember, God wants what is best for you, and sometimes the trial is going to grow you or refine you in meaningful and lasting ways.

Communion

This list is by no means exhaustive. The point I want you to hear is this: Whatever your reason for not praying might be, there is a better reason to pray. The benefits, the blessing, the connection with your Heavenly Father. There is treasure that is found in Christ alone, and the only way to discover that treasure, that life that you’ve been longing to live is through prayer.

I think our approach to prayer is also reflective of our approach to communion. When it comes to communion, I wonder if we often get caught going through the motions. It is simply something the church does.

If you are not careful, you will miss the beauty and majesty of communion. When you take the bread and juice, you are joining with Christ in the same holy moment He shared with His disciples the night He was betrayed. Communion is so much more then the wafer and juice. You are remembering the sacrifice that was made so that you could have unhindered connection with your Heavenly Father. You are participating in a practice that is limited in practice. You will only take part in communion until Christ returns and establishes His rule and reign over all creation. This is a holy moment, a sacred moment. You should approach it with lament because of how things might taste; you come with anticipation because you never know what God might do in your ife or the life of the church in this moment.

This is why Paul told us 1 Corinthians to not take part in communion in an unworthy manner, but to make sure our hearts are right before God. Let there be no sin in our lives, no rebellion that might detract from what our Heavenly Father might want to accomplish.