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The Key To Answered Prayer
Wednesday, December 17th, 2014 2:24pm
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Whenever we pray for something, sometimes we find ourselves in a bit of a predicament where it seems like our prayers are going absolutely nowhere, and our requests are falling upon deaf ears.  But God is not dead, nor does He sleep.  So why are our prayers not being heard?  Or appearing to not be heard?  It's likely not because of what you're praying for, but how you're praying for it.  What do I mean by this?  Well, the simplest and most succinct way to understand it is this: We always need to present our prayers before God through the lens of the JOY principle.  IE, Jesus First, Others Second, and Ourselves Last.  If we do that we will see success in our prayers.  But before we can do that we first have to understand what things we are doing wrong and why.

1.  We're praying with wrong motives.

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."

Believe it or not, quite often when we pray and do not receive, we're not seeing our prayers answered because we're asking with wrong motives or intentions.  As the verse above demonstrates, we're doing it because we're sinfully desiring something God does not want for us.  He doesn't do it to be mean.  When God tells us not to do something, or withholds something from us, it's not to our harm, but for our protection.  In a sense God is a helicopter parent.  Not in a derogative manner, but rather in the sense that He is trying to protect us from things He knows will harm us.

The same is true when it comes to others.  If our prayer will actually hurt someone else, He will usually deny our request.  Sometimes, if that harmful request will actually create a beneficial outcome He will permit it, but in the end the request is selfish and harmful, and God will do His level best to protect His children from harming themselves.  This is where the above mentioned JOY principle comes into play.  When asking a prayer for someone, or yourself, it's best to request it or see it through the lens of the JOY principle.  IE, does it first of all benefit or glorify Jesus/God, and secondly benefit or edify others.  Then, if both are true, does it edify or benefit ourselves.

Now, before I go any further, allow me to clarify the last part.  When I say "Does it benefit or edify ourselves?", I'm asking rather, "Does it benefit or edify us in a Godly way?"  If not, then what we are asking is likely selfish, lustful, and/or sinful, and thus should not be asked, and will almost invariably not be answered.  We must also remember that our prayers, in some form or fashion, either in their asking, or more preferably in their answering, need to in all cases bring Glory to God.  And not just God the Father, but all three members of the Trinity.  For example, I'm asking for so and so to be healed.  Does their healing bring glory to God?

Sure it does.  But will what they do after bring any glory to God?  Now there's the rub.  Sometimes when we're praying and we ask amiss, it's not because we do it for wrong reasons, but rather foolishly due to a lack of foresight.  Yes, we might pray wrongfully or sinfully, but sometimes when we ask amiss, we don't look at the big picture.  We simply see the stubbed toe, but we fail to see the tree that's about to crash on their head, and had the stubbed toe not been there, something far worse would have happened.  Hence why the prayer is not working, which then leads us into point two.

2.  Praying outside the will of God.

When we pray, we must remember that our prayers must always align with the will of God.  Otherwise they will not be answered.  Why is this the case?

Isaiah 55:9 (KJV) - "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God is higher than us, knows more than us, and understands all things.  Why?

Isaiah 46:10 (KJV)  - "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"

God is omniscient.  IE, He knows everything.  He knew you, what you'd do, what you'd look like, how you'd think, the actions you'd take and every choice you'd make long before He ever created even the very first ray of light, the first angel, or anything.  When God was self existent, before time, before creation, before all things He know how everything would unfold, right down to the very last second of time, and even in the times to come AFTER time is no more.  He literally knows everything that will happen all throughout eternity.  He knows the cause and effect of everything that will happen.  So if He knows all that, and He desires only the best for us, why do we doubt His will for us?  Yes, it's not what we want, but let me ask you this.  When have you ever gotten your way with something only to have it ultimately go to pieces?  If you were honest, you'd say every single time.  Anytime you're outside of God's will everything falls apart.

But when you're inside it, nothing does.  That's why we need to always ensure that we are praying INSIDE the will of God and not outside.  So how do we ensure we're praying correctly?  Well, first off, ensure that you're living the life that God wants you to live.  That means daily bible reading, regular daily prayer to Him (It doesn't have to always be requests.  Sometimes God, especially Jesus, just wants to chitchat, to have a friendly conversation with His children, enjoying each others presence, talking, discussing things, and sharing intimate time together as friends and family.), regular church attendance, and an all around right relationship with Him.

3.  Understanding God's Timing.  (ie, patience, patience, patience)

As stated above in Isaiah 46:10, God knows the end from the beginning.  As such, that means He also knows when the right time is for everything to unfold.  To use a farming analogy as an example, if rain and warm weather is required for the crops that you plant to grow, and you knew what time of year would provide the best opportunities for the crops to grow, what would you more likely do?  Plant them right here and now, despite the snow on the ground, and expect them to grow and prosper?  Or would you instead wait till spring, when the rains come, the ground is thawed, the air warmed up, and all things are ready and at their best time to grow.  Someone who knows the current situation, and also the best future or current time to plant their crops will wait until those conditions arrive.

The same is true with God.  If you're praying for someone to be healed and months go by and they haven't been healed, it's likely because God knows that it's best that they aren't healed right away, or ever for that matter.  Why?  Well, one reason might be to protect you or that person from something worse.  Say for example that someone has cancer.  You pray that they're healed, and instantly your prayer is answered.  However, this doesn't sway them and they go on living a sinful life and don't accept Christ.  Then, two weeks later that person, having gone on a drinking binge drives drunk, kills themselves and four others, and all five go to Hell, lost forever.  But, if the person isn't healed, that drunk driving tragedy never happens, and in the process two or more give their lives to Christ, now less of them are going to Hell and in the process they may in turn lead thousands of others to Christ, which is even fewer people in Hell.

See the point?  Sometimes one unanswered prayer becomes answered prayer for not just yourself but others in an entirely different area.  There's also a matter of patience.  Sometimes, as in the above planting example, it's a matter of blessing vs loss.  IE, plant now and lose not just your seeds, but also the increase you could have gained from it, or plant later at the right time and see 100 fold or greater increase for your investment.  Since God knows the end from the beginning, He also knows when the best time is to answer prayers to ensure maximum benefit for Him, and for you.

4.  A lack of faith.

Matthew 8:5-10 (KJV) - "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

Matthew 8:23-26 (KJV) - "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm."

Matthew 17:14-20 (KJV) - "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.  And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

As these verses demonstrate, quite often our biggest issues with faith aren't because God doesn't wish to answer our prayers, or even because we ask amiss.  Most often our prayers aren't answered because we do not really, truly believe that God can either do them, or will do them.  In a sense we have, one one person has so aptly called, a "little god" mentality.  IE, to us God is small, powerless, and unable to do great things.  We need to believe, and to trust that our God is a BIG God, and not little, and that He is able to do great and mighty things.  Really, it still amazes me that people can read the bible, to see the story of Noah, to see the crossing of the Red Sea or the amazing things God did in the Old Testament, or even the New, in the Gospels, or the book of Acts and so many others, and then turn around and disbelieve His ability to do them.  In a sense that's a form of blasphemy if you want to be literal about it.  Why?  Well, by disbelieving in God's ability to do anything, we are calling God a liar and a fake, and that in its purest form is blasphemy.

But not all situations in which we lack the faith to believe in God would fall into that.  Sometimes we lack faith and disbelieve God because we doubt He will hear our prayer.  But why?  Well, for one we're used to people not keeping their promises, so by nature we plaster that same mental image onto God, an image of Him being fallible, untrustworthy, and precocious, unwilling to give us what we want just to spite us.  No!  God is not like that!  If God says no, it's for our good, and not to be mean.  If God says wait, it's not to hurt us, but to protect us, or often times to maximize our blessing.  I can't tell you how many times God has, by making me wait, made my blessing 100 fold what it could have been.  So be willing to believe, and trust, and then be patient.  Just because it's not immediately answered doesn't mean God didn't hear you, nor does it mean He won't answer your request.  If He is waiting, or delaying, it's for a reason.  If you're curious, search out what that reason is.  But in all things trust God that He will answer your prayer, even if it seems impossible, as God is the God of the impossible. :)  Actually, I think He gets great joy out of making the impossible happen.  That in itself ought to give you some encouragement.

Now obviously this isn't an exhaustive list of the reasons behind your lack of answered prayer.  But this should in turn give you a good jumping off point to finding the answers to the reasons why the prayers you seek to see answered are remaining unfulfilled.
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