God...Is that You? (Part 2)

GOD’S ANSWERS TO PRAYER

One of the complicated parts of trying to explain how God answers prayer is that fact that there are so many things to pray for, there is therefore any possible number of answers. But when we boil back down to the main categories we talked about last week, it helps us to zero in on the few answers that are a little harder for us to grasp.

Remember, we talked about the six categories in the Lord’s prayer, and each one helps us to better understand what kind of answer we can expect.

Categories 1 and 6 had us beginning and ending with praise, and acknowledging how awesome and majestic and holy God is, and that He is the reason for everything. There really isn’t an answer to that, other than acknowledging that God is pleased when we spend time giving Him that time He deserves.

The second category was submitting: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

That’s, in essence, our preparation to receive God’s answer. It’s our way of saying, I don’t know what your answer is going to be yet, but you do and I am leading on your wisdom to do what is right for me, and the other people in my life. I want your will to be done because I know that is what is right.

And in the meantime, I am going to work on what you have already called me to do, which is to do my part in spreading the Kingdom of God around the world in the way I spread the gospel of Christ to others.

Category 4 and 5 was about receiving forgiveness, giving forgiveness, and asking God to protect us from the influences of evil that tempt us in that direction to begin.

We already know the answers to those prayers. He has already promised to forgives us, He has already told us that we need to forgive others, no exceptions, and He will deliver us from evil, but we have to do our part in avoiding those areas where temptation may be strongest.

So the only category of prayer left is supplication, where we give to God our requests for the things we need, want, and for specific direction He wants us to go in life, and that’s where we often seek answers that may be a little tougher to come by.

We already know that God has already promised to give us what we need, so that answer will always be a yes, even if that looks a little different than how we might prefer. So it boils down to understanding the answers to the things we ask that we really want, and answers we seek when we ask God to guide us in certain decisions and directions in life.

I can only give you general answers, because each answer will be specific to the exact prayer you offered, but hopefully you will see how trusting God and knowing God fits into this equation, especially when we have to accept an answer we really don’t like.

First the simple answers God gives when we ask Him for something.

Too often people get the misconception that God will automatically give us what we ask for, and then they go on to quote scriptures that they have taken completely out of context, or they miss important key words in those passages as we have discussed before:

Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness - or - delight first in God - both of these things implying that we must align ourselves with God’s will - exactly what you heard earlier in 1 John 5. We miss the God’s will part - which we must study and get to know God to better understand what that will is.

So does that mean that sometimes we don’t get what we ask for? Absoluely, and I’m pretty sure everyone here has experienced that, and that’s the first answer you might have to endure to a prayer for something you want.

I want to have lots of money.

I want to have a big house.

I want a particular job.

I want to acquire a certain position in the job I have.

I want be healed of a certain ailment.

I want my loved one to survive this terrible health crisis or accident - I don’t want them to die.

And there are times, hard as it is for me to have to shoot straight with you about this, that you have to endure this first possible answer:

NO: It’s not the right thing or God has something better.

And in our deepest disappointments of the no answers we receive, it can be very hard to see how God could provide something better than what we have asked.

How can I deal with being financially tight all the time. Maybe God knows that you are stronger in faith because of your dependence on Him, and He knows what you would do if you acquired financial riches. James 4:3 offers that possibility:

James 4:3 NIV

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

I am miserable in my current job, how could God not want me out of that miserable situation? Maybe the job you wanted instead would have even bigger frustrations you didn’t even think about.

I hate being single or how can I stay in the marriage I am in that is making me so unhappy? Maybe God is using the situation you are in to strengthen you, or to be a testimony to someone else.

What is better than healing myself or my loved one if not doing so could lead to death? That is indeed the hardest one - until we realize what lies ahead of all of us if we are believers.

It’s why Paul, in dealing with this very thing in 2 Corinthians 12, some unknown thorn in his side and affliction that made him miserable - he said that three times he asked for it to be removed, and the answer was no. That God’s grace was sufficient, and that his power was made perfect in his weakness, and we saw how all of that played out in Paul’s ministry, the help he was to so many people, the testimony he could share to the Corinthian people, among others, and ultimately the grace of God which would lead to eternal glory upon Paul’s passing.

The hope Paul found in God because of all of His promises and His perfect plan that was higher than our preference of things in the bigger picture, even if we can’t see it yet, makes us able to better trust in an find contentment in the answers. (P)

Of course, the opposite to that is the answer that needs little explanation and that we all prefer:

YES: Your request is within to confines of God’s will.

It’s not usually about whether we deserve it or about whether or not we have earned it - it’s about how well it aligns with God had in mind.

John 14:14 NIV

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Asking in Jesus’ name means asking in His authority, which obviously is another part of aligning ourselves with God’s will. You can’t ask in Christ’s authority to have something bad happen to your annoying neighbor when you know that’s not how Christ will operate.

The more we delight in God, the more we seek God, the more we put forth the time to learn about God, the better we can become acquainted with God’s will, and the more we find that our desires match God’s desires because we come to realize ultimately that no one knows better than Him what is best.

Another answer that often feels like a no, but really isn’t:

WAIT: Yes, but not yet.

There isn’t much to say about wait other than, employ the patience and submission to God you have to use in the no answers until God says it’s time to say yes, because what you have asked for will come into alignment with His will at that time.

The tough part is, often times we don’t know wait is a yes until it happens - so we carry on with faith, yet again, that God knows what he’s doing during that difficult process.

Abraham and Sarah are great examples of that - having to wait decades for the promised children that would initiate the promise of God to supply decendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the sure.

They didn’t always make the best choices in the waiting process - and sometimes we have to ask ourselves how well we wait out the no’s and the waits. While their ages crept into the 50s and 60’s and 70’s and even 80’s, they were pretty certain the answer had become a “no” from God, until God brought them to the right time. (P)

That waiting process or dealing with a “no” can be so difficult, especially when we aren’t really sure what the answer is, because don’t seem to be getting any direction. And that can be especially difficult when the answers we seek are not yes’s or no’s, but when we are seeking God for direction on decisions we have to make.

And that’s what I want to end with:

HOW DO WE KNOW GOD’S ANSWERS?

And again, these can be difficult to discern - and it always starts and continues with our ongoing study of God’s Word, and seeking get to know Him and how we have seen Him operate that can give Him some clues as to what He would have us do.

But in the waiting game, here are some things we can watch for and listen for, remember that critical component of prayer, when seeking answers.

This first one is one that I think we all want, but very, very few have experienced, and that’s:

1. Rare Audibility

I have heard many people ask why God seems to be silent now - why he doesn’t speak to us audibly as He once seemed to so often as we read in scripture.

There are people who have actually claimed to have audibly heard a voice speak to them. Maybe some in this room have, but it doesn’t happen often. I often say that I would love to hear that, or in today’s way of communication, how I wish God would send an email or text so I know that what I am doing is the right thing - but He doesn’t do that.

Even in scripture, if we were to list all of the recorded incidents of those experiences, and then spread them out over the regions represented and time passed, we would see just how rare those occurrences happened then, too.

He has always wanted us to remain in touch with Him through our study of His commands and our fellowship with Him in prayer.

A second way we sometimes get answers is through a:

2. Hunch/Nudge

You get this weird tugging in your spirit, or a strong feeling about something that seemed to come out of nowhere. Sometimes it’s good to test those things and see if they lead to some revelation.

My very first ministry job was as a chaplain in some State Parks in Western PA. The bulk of my work on site happened on the weekend, and my week was spent at home preparing for Sunday Services. I almost never went to the parks during the week unless I was called in.

I had just heard a message on prayer, and the pastor had said about once in a while we get these nudges or hunches and we just have to go for it and see if anything comes of it. We had just come back from vacation and I had a nudge during a weekday to head out to the parks just to do some rounds. On my way I got behind a volunteer firefighter who suddenly started speeding up and turned on his blue light, and I had this strong hunch to follow him.

Ten miles later, I follow him in to one of the State Parks I worked at and discovered that he was responding to an injury one of the campers I had met the week before had endured, and I ended up spending the evening with them in the ER.

Had the trucked zoomed on past the park, I would have probably on about my business in the park and chalked it off as a missed hunch, but I was glad that day that I had followed it.

Maybe that has happened to some of you, and you can share your experience, or give it a try sometime in the future.

3. Timely Revelation from Scripture

4. Timely Revelation from Experience

5. Delayed Revelation from Experience