Why Are My Prayers Not Being Answered?….

Its  been one of those days, you ever have one of those days that everything is just going smooth? People are calling you, people are being nice to you…you are able to hear Gods voice. The Holy Spirit comforts you…you get invited over for dinner…you feel happy…you feel great.

Well, today was one of those days. I pray and God hears me. He overwhelms me with his presence….He lets me know that he is there, he talks and comforts me as the day goes on. Oh how I wish everyday was this amazing. Oh how I wish we would feel this sense of being acknowledged all the time…

Yesterday was quite the opposite, in fact most of my week has felt that way. I have felt alone, I felt that something wasn’t there. I actually began to tell myself that God doesn’t hear me! He doesn’t care about me. Oh what a human thing to do. It doesn’t take long for the doubts to kick in, it doesn’t take long for us to think about giving up.

Although we want to feel Gods presence every second, every minute that isn’t always the case. We won’t always feel God there, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t there. He is always there, we just might not allow him there.

I think that anytime things aren’t going my way I go into default human mode. The reason I call it this is because I start to let my emotions take over….Where is God right now, why is he not blessing me with more work? Why isn’t he giving me more opportunities for fellowship, Why am I still single? God must have some sick sense of humor, or he wants me to be miserable. Yes, we as humans will think the most absurd things when we are vulnerable, when we don’t get our way.

I was reminded of one thing this week, that God isn’t a Genie…You can’t just rub your hands together in prayer and expect God to come to your beckoning call. You can’t expect him to give you everything instantly.

We live in a society where convenience and right now is expected; we want a phone that never freezes even for a second when we load a picture. We want internet that loads a page before we even blink! Do you realize how spoiled you are living in this generation. Growing up, I used to use dial up, I used house phones. I used real mail! Guess how long this stuff took…imagine waiting a week for a response, imagine having to wait to get home to talk t0 that girl/guy….? And you have the nerve to call Comcast or the phone provider and complain!….Oh my internet only runs at 50 gigs instead of the 100 I “NEED”! I want it to take .0005 seconds to load a page instead of an entire second! It’s unacceptable..Or call At&T and tell them you’re phone isn’t getting service in the forest during camp! Or it takes a long time for your web to load…Do you realize that the command for the internet has to be sent to space and back, your phone is traveling to space to get a signal! Can you travel to space and back in a few seconds?…GIVE IT A MINUTE! seriously…hahaha

I think what we should be praying for is, not taking things for granted…

I just wanted to put it into perspective, because I think people perceive God similar to how life is these days. They pray about things for a day or two and give up…They think, oh well if God didn’t answer right away he most not hear me. Time isn’t relevant in Gods eyes. He doesn’t plan things on a time cycle. He uses circumstances as his indicator. If you seem ready and your heart is in the right place he will answer your prayers. Also if your motives are in the right place.

I just wanted to point out the obvious, if you are living in sin God will not answer your prayer unless it is a prayer of repentance.

 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.(Psalm 66)

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord.” (Proverbs 1 28-29) 

We can see from Psalm 66:18 that if we as believers are to “regard wickedness” in our hearts that the Lord will not hear our prayers. In other words, He won’t answer them. However, when we pray for forgiveness and we are repentant, God, of course, hears and forgives. But what does it mean to regard wickedness in your heart? The literal translation is “see iniquity with pleasure.” So, if anyone, Christian included, were to look upon sin favorably and seek to do it, then God will not hear their prayers. Sin hinders prayer’s effectiveness, and as we see in the next verse, Isaiah 59:2, God hides Himself from those who are in sin. In James 4:3, we see that wrong motives hinder prayer.

There are roughly 6 reason why prayers may not be answered:

1. Our Prayers are aborted when they aren’t according to Gods will
2. Our prayers are to fulfill inner lusts, dreams, desires, or illusions
3. Our prayers can be denied when we chose not to show diligence to assist God in the Answer
4. If we have a secret grudge or anger towards another person
5. Not believing the prayer will come true (lack of faith)
6. When we prescribe to God how he should answer

There might be more, but most non answered prayers will fall into one of the six categories. I think these are all pretty self explanatory. I mostly struggle with number 6. I like to tell God how I want thing answered, I often pray about success and things that will not benefit my heavenly reward but my comfort level here on earth. I don’t need to make a fortune to live a prosperous life. Many people think they do, and if fact most people will build their entire life around trying to make a fortune.

Typically when you pray in the Spirit many of these things won’t happen (the 6 factors) because the Spirit knows what to pray for. That’s why we see verse like;

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.(John 14:13).

and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. (1 John 3:22). 

“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. (Mark 11:24). 

What does all this mean? Pray and you will be answered?…Could I pray for a Ferrari?…Could I pray for a hott wife? Could I pray to win the lottery…or to never have to work again…

Definitely not, First off not only do those prayers not align with Gods will, they are not prayers of the Spirit but prayers of selfishness. No one needs a fancy car, a huge house, a model spouse, or a million bucks…

What you do need is for God to provide enough money for you to survive, this might be answered in the form of some work. You need a Godly women, someone that will build you up Spiritually, not a model. Money ruins character and will keep you from going to heaven, so by God giving you a million dollars he would be a early ticket to the pit of fire..For it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

What will happen when we live in the Spirit is that we will not be inclined to pray for worthless things. Because they don’t benefit your Spiritual walk with God.

Also,we don’t Pray but the Spirit does when we walk close to God:

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26). 

Often times what happens is we think we are living in the Spirit, but we are only fooling ourselves. I don’t know about you but I can feel when God doesn’t hear me…and of course this is typically after I sin, or when I chose to not maintain my close relationship with God.

Also, keep in mind, sometimes God does hear us, but Satan comes and plants thoughts in our mind like; God doesn’t hear you, He has forgotten about you. Don’t fall for this deception. If you didn’t fall into any of the 6 categories of why God might not be answering your prayers than you are most likely being fed lies by Satan. He loves to get you to doubt. That falls into questioning Gods ability, and not having faith in the prayer.

We are to pray like we are talking to our earthly Father. Talk to God and tell him what you need, what you are going through, let the heart speak what you are going through. God needs sincerity, you can’t fool God he knows your heart better than you know yourself.

Popular question:but why is God taking so long to answer (oh man do I battle with this…I want my answer now, I can’t wait another week or year are you kidding?)

If God is delaying, it simply means your request is gaining interest in God’s bank of blessings. So assured were the saints of God that He was faithful to His promises, they rejoiced before even seeing any conclusions. They went on merrily, as if they had already received. God wants us to pay in praises before we receive the promises.

The Holy Sprit assists us in prayer – and is He not welcome at the throne? Will the Father deny the Spirit? Never! That groaning in your soul is no less than God Himself – and God will not deny Himself.

Sources:

http://www.tscpulpitseries.org/english/undated/tssixrea.html

http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Prayer,-God~s-Promises-Concerning