40 Days of Prayer: Week 7-When God says No

We’ve talked about having a healthy understanding of prayer

We’ve talked about having a healthy understanding of the one who hears us.

We talked about a how to pray prayers that God hears and answers

We talked about how to be prayers who’s prayers are heard

We’ve talked about to live a praying life…to start, end, and spend our day in prayer.

We talked about how to pray for healing and restoration.

Today we are going to talk about the uncomfortable part of our prayers. But first, remember that God hears our prayers.

Jeremiah 33:3 NIV84

3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

HE always answers…but not like we want. Unfortunately we don’t get to determine how God will answer our prayers. We don’t get ot tell him what to do.

He will answer: Yes, no, or not yet

Yes

Now the yes, we understand. We talked about praying the promises of God…praying for the the things which he is prepared to say yes to us.

Lord give me wisdom…yes.

Lord, forgive me…yes.

Fill me with your spirit…yes

Lead me…yes.

These are a souces of great comfort for us…to know he hears and he always answers…yes to the right questions

Sometimes the answer is not yet.

Not Yet

We understand the not yet answers too. We have gotten those many times when we pray and nothing comes back…so we keep praying.

Some of us have been praying for a spouse or a child to come to Jesus for years…till then we keep loving them and praying for them.

Some of us have been praying for healing from disease…and while we wait, we keep going to the Dr.

So we understand the not yet answer to our prayers.

But sometimes God answers No.

No.

Anyone here ever get a no answer from God? Would you tell us the circumstances around it?

When my dad had a stroke…he didn’t recover.

When my parents were separated…they didn’t get back together.

Sometimes God’s reason for “No” is obvious.

When you think about it, there are some obvious reasons

why God doesn’t answer every prayer with a YES. For instance...

Some prayers conflict with other prayers

& both cannot be answered at the same time

o A child praying for bad weather so they can stay home from school

A praying for good weather so they don’t miss work.

o People praying for opposing teams ... Can’t answer both!

I wonder if God cares who wins? opposing candidates

Some prayers would require God to take away someone’s free will

& choice. God won’t do that!

Nancy joked about this last week…when she talked about forcing someone to marry you.

God gives you a choice so he won’t force you to do anything

o Some of you prayed that your spouse would stay in your marriage

. But they left. God doesn’t force people to – fall in love…stay in love

God doesn’t force YOU to always do the right thing. Neither will..

Praying for someone sick to stay alive will not always get a YES

because we aren’t meant to live on earth forever!

- If faith was the only factor – some people would never die!

- But Heb. 9:27 says “It is appointed...”

I want to live forever – just not here!

BIBLE: Full of examples when God said ‘NO’ to a prayer.

God said NO to Abraham, Moses, David, Job, Jonah, Peter, Paul ... Even Jesus had prayers answered no!

Just like these folks in scripture, in themoment, God’s “NO” doesn’t make sense.

And it’s important to understand this reality of our prayer.

Today we are going to look at a few of these and discover two things…what we can learn about God and how that might change our response to God’s No.

But many times.. the NO answer is unexplainable

God’s NO is often confusing.

If God is loving & all power – why is request denied?

Can be frustrating. WHY?

Why do some get miracles & others don’t?

Why do some sick people we pray for get well & others die?

Why do some get relief from pain & others don’t?

Why does God sometimes say yes & other times no?

These times when God says no just don’t make sense to us in the moment.

Often times this happens in times of tragedy.

And that is the greatest test of your faith

- the tragic accident... the unexpected death

- the dashed dream ... the unfulfilled longing

the denied request

That’s when a NO is heartbreaking! It feels unbearable

TODAY:

To look at 3 cases where God’s no was pretty clear, and his reasoning is pretty clear from here.

Hindsite....20/20

David denied building the Temple

It seemed obvious to David to build the temple, but God saw him as a warrior…not so as a man of peace. God had a bigger perspective.

1 Chronicles 28:2 NCV

2 King David stood up and said, “Listen to me, my relatives and my people. I wanted to build a place to keep the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord. I wanted it to be God’s footstool. So I made plans to build a temple.

But God remembered all that David had done.

1 Chronicles 28:3 NIV84

3 But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’

He can see the past…he can see the present…and most importantly God can see into the future.

Where David came to be king through war, Solomon would come to be king through peace…in fact his name Solomon …has the root of shalom…meaning peace.

God has a bigger perspective.

God says no because his Perspective is Bigger

So what was David response, in realizing that God was honored more in peace than in war? He Trusted him…even though it meant he wouldn’t get to do something he longed to do.

1 Chronicles 29:10–13 NIV84

10 David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

We can TRUST a Bigger Perspective

God sees the whole picture - we don’t! He has a wider view.

We have limited perspective. We can’t see the future!

HEB.4:13 “He knows about everyone everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to the ALL-seeing eyes of our living God; nothing can be hidden from Him…”

One problem with our limited perspective:

We can’t see the unintended consequences of our requests.

If you could see your life the way God does-

- would you prayers be different? Yep!

- would it solve many of your problems?

YOU’D never have unexpected trouble! Could prepare in advance!

- you’d never ask for the wrong thing

Q: Do you give your kids everything they ask for? Of course no!

WHY NOT? You have a bigger perspective.

Simple fact is, when I ask God for something - I have no idea teh consequences or ramifications of a yes to my prayers.

Every answered prayer sets off an entire chain of events!

GOD CAN SEE AHEAD!

Sometimes God says “no” to protect you from unforeseen problems!

PR. 2:8 “God guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones.” “guards & protects”

That DOESNT mean- he always pulls you out of the frying pan.

Let me give you a couple examples from scripture

He just protects you from burning up!

Daniel was thrown into the lions den, but God shut their mouths.

The 3 Hebrew men were sent to the furnace, but God protected them while the ropes that bound them burned.

St Paul’s greatest prayer was to preach in Rome! He never expected he would preach as a prisoner.

God had a bigger perspective: and that lets you trust him when he answers your prayer NO.

Paul and his Thorn

Paul was another one who God told no.

God says no when his Purpose is Greater

2 Corinthians 12:7–10 NIV84

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

A Greater Purpose powers our PRAISE

God will never let your prayer interfere with your purpose!

PS. 57:2 “I cry out to God Most High, who fulfills his purpose for me.”

While Paul wanted to be delivered, God said no. In fact Paul died with his thorn.

God is NOT obligated to explain why He does what He does

He doesn’t need our approval. Doesn’t have to check out.

But everything God allows in your life does have a purpose!

including problems & unanswered prayers.

You may be in a painful or difficult season of life right now and everything about you wants to be free. Hear this from Peter.

“The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold…” 1 PET. 1:7

Anytime you feel discouraged, remind yourself, God has a greater purpose:

--SLIDE--

“These present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they will produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.” 2 COR. 4:17-18

The fact is, there are some things we won’t understand until heaven

Then all things will be clear.

Also, there are some things that will never change until Jesus returns.

because we live in a broken world.

Sometimes your suffering is for the benefit of others

financially,

ministry,

God even allowed his own son to suffer for the benefit of others

WHY? He had a greater purpose: Your salvation!

A Greater Purpose powers our PRAISE

That makes ALL THIS…even the no’s … a reason to praise!

Example:

The perfect response to NO, we need to look no further than Jesus.

Jesus and the Cup

You remember this prayer right. Just before his betrayal, Jesus knowing what was happening, took his disciples to pray.

Matt 26:36-46

Did God take the cup from him? NO. That’s right, God said NO to Jesus’s prayer.

God says no when He has a Better Plan

In this case his better plan was to save all of humanity…not just Jesus.

Often God wants to fulfill your desire -but in a different way

In his infinite wisdom, he has a BETTER IDEA!

Jesus said save me…and God said I will and everyone else too.

ISA.55:8-9 God: “This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are My thoughts the same as yours! For My ways are higher than yours.”

God has more than one way of doing things!

Unlike you, His options are unlimited! - many alternatives

- never forced to answer in only 1 way!

He can save Jesus and Save everyone else.

Example: If you are deep in debt – financially stressed

God can answer in many different ways

- He might show you ways to increase your income

- He might show you ways to decrease your expenses (spend less)

The problem is, we want God to answer in our preferred way. Its as though we want to tell God not only WHAT to do, but how to do it.

We want to be delivered…this way.

We want freedom…that looks like this.

We want a blessing…here.

We want the easiest way, but God always wants the best way– the way that helps you GROW!

The way that grows your faith sometimes requires a delayed answer

Remember: A delay is not a denial. Maturity is found in the No’s and Not Yet’s

Theologian Garth Brooks…Thank God for unanswered prayers

Looking back - I’m grateful God said no to some of my prayers!

If God had answered my prayers, I wouldn’t have my wife cause I would have married a Dallas cowboys cheerleader…then I wouldn’t have my kids, and I wouldn’t have yall.

Stop praying “God bless MY plans” Start: “God I want YOUR plans!”

Better Plan calls for Obedience

God says no when he has a better plan…and a better plan is a call for obedience.

Think about it. If God says no. How long do I mourn the loss of that dream? At what point do I say, thank you Lord for correcting me, for drawing me back to your better plan.

It’s easy to look back on our life and say, I should have trusted him sooner. I should have seen him at work in that no.

That’s exactly the point. We can learn from the past and apply it to the next time we get a no. there will be a next time.

God says no because he has a better plan, a greater purpose, and a bigger perspective.

WE can prepare ourselves now to look for the bigger perspective, the better plan, and for the Greater purpose

How do your recognize his plan, purpose, or perspective? He shows it to us through the Holy Spirit at work in us by God’s grace.