As believers we often talk about our faith in God that he hears and answers every prayer. And yet it sometimes seems like God is not listening. The answers are not easily coming.
I'm reminded of the Garth Brooks song entitled Unanswered Prayers. The premise of this song is that God sometimes does not answer our prayers because he has something better planned for us.
There may be some truth to this, but consider some Biblical reasons for unanswered prayer. The first thing on this list is prayerlessness. In James 4:2 it is written: "You do not have, because you do not ask God."
Sometimes we spend so much time in worry mode that we forget to operate in prayer mode. Yet, the Scriptures encourage us to engage in ceaseless prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:7). We may share with our spouse, with our friends, with our church family what we desire, but we forget to tell God. This is a big mistake.
God cannot answer a prayer that is not prayed. It's true that God does not need us to make our requests known to him. He already knows. But how will we ever see God's answer to our prayer as an answer to our prayer if we never prayed the prayer? Prayer is not so much about God needing to know our needs, as much as it is about us needing to know his answer.
Prayer is about building our faith. God wants us to ask him so that we can recognize his answer when he comes through for us and not dismiss it as coincidence.
Do you have something you need to ask God for? Don't wait! Do it now!
Next week we will continue this discussion with our second reason for unanswered prayer.
Readings next week:
| 05 | Jeremiah 4:19-6:15 Colossians 1:18-2:7 Psalm 77:1-20 Proverbs 24:23-25 | 06 | Jeremiah 6:16-8:7 Colossians 2:8-23 Psalm 78:1-31 Proverbs 24:26 | |
| 07 | Jeremiah 8:8-9:26 Colossians 3:1-17 Psalm 78:32-55 Proverbs 24:27 | 08 | Jeremiah 10:1-11:23 Colossians 3:18-4:18 Psalm 78:56-72 Proverbs 24:28-29 | |
| 09 | Jeremiah 12:1-14:10 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8 Psalm 79:1-13 Proverbs 24:30-34 | 10 | Jeremiah 14:11-16:15 1 Thessalonians 2:9-3:13 Psalm 80:1-19 Proverbs 25:1-5 | |
| 11 | Jeremiah 16:16-18:23 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:3 Psalm 81:1-16 Proverbs 25:6-8 |
1 comment:
After reading the quote from James 4:2, "You do not have, because you do not ask God", I began to think about this, looked it up in the bible, and I see the context. especially v. 3, "when you ask, you do not receive , because you ask with wrong motives,that you may spend what you get on your pleasures"! That's selfish praying, according to James.People may ceaselessly pray, but pray with the wrong motives. People may pray in Jesus' name but ask for the wrong things (and that is probably NOT "praying in Jesus' name"). If God doesn't seem to answer, maybe one is not praying 'Your will be done".
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