Why Our Prayers Do Not Seem To Be Answered

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The Lord Jesus promised us that we could ask, in His name, whatever we wanted and it would be done. It was the Son of God who made this promise. Every one of His words is heavier than all the sand in the world. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ simply cannot be changed in any manner. They shall come to pass. When they seem not to come to pass, there is a good reason.

(2/20/2005) Many of us have prayed for the desires of our heart. Jesus promised us that we would receive the answer. Yet time—sometimes a long time—goes by and the answer does not come.

How can this be, when we know God has heard us and is bound by His Word to answer. There are at least two reasons. The first reason is that God may understand that what we are asking will not bring us love, joy, and peace, which are the goal of all of us if we are mentally healthy.

A good example of this is the young man or young woman who falls madly in love with another person.

Then he or she begins to pray fervently: "O Lord, please cause this individual to be attracted to me so we can be married and live happily ever after." But God sees that such a marriage will bring hatred, misery, and anxiety. So He does not answer.

If the petitioner is wise, he or she will keep looking to the Lord and waiting, but not forcing the answer. The unwise person will rush off and do what his flesh is urging, and end up in total misery. "Patience, and the Kingdom of God!"

We simply have to believe that God is good, has all power, and is seeking our welfare. This Eve did not believe, apparently.

The second reason God does not seem to answer our prayer is that He has to prepare us to receive and maintain the answer. There have been times when God has answered a prayer, and the answer has destroyed the one who asked. The prayer was righteous and came from the desire that God had placed in the individual; but he or she could not maintain successfully that which had been given.

Adam and Eve in the garden possessed love, joy, and peace. But they were not prepared sufficiently to maintain that which had been given.

There have been believers who have been given powerful gifts of miracles and healing. Yet they became covetous, or proud, or unwise in their family responsibilities. Thus their gift destroyed them.

Sometimes we have superficial desires which are transitory. If we wait long enough they will weaken and disappear.

On other occasion there are deep desires that God has placed in our heart. When we pray for these to be fulfilled, God hears, because this is what He has in mind for us. Then God sets about to prepare us to profit from the answer.

Satan will tempt us to take a shortcut to the destiny to which we have been called, as he did with the Lord Jesus.

Because of this, much patience is required. Like Abraham, we have to keep the birds off the sacrifice.

If we hold out to the end, we shall be saved and we shall receive the full destiny to which we have been called.

Also on yesterday morning’s file on the Audio Page (Joseph probably has it posted already) I went into the need we have to prepare for the future. Satan, the fallen angels, and the demons are going to become increasingly manifest, as they are already in the children’s toys.

Then the casual Christian will become terrified and succumb to their seductions, just as so many Christians are watching the pornography on the Internet. If they could see the slobbering ghouls who are prompting them to watch the flesh on the Internet they would drop to their knees in prayer.

And—people believe me!—it is going to get much, much worse. So go to the Lord today so you may be found in Him when the spiritual darkness increases.