God Answers Prayers – He Really Does! – Part 1
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Pastor Art Pena
Isaiah 55:6-13
If you’re earnestly praying for something right now, the title may generate some “amens” or “Hallelujahs”. However, others may have reservations because you may be engaged in prayer for something you feel God had not “answered”. Here’s an interesting question: Do you really think God hasn’t answered your prayer yet, or could it be that He already has and it’s just not what you expected?
“Unanswered prayers” whether real or perceived can drive people into doing drastic things! Their responses range from doubt to confusion, frustration, apathy, anger, bitterness or rebellion. Many end up giving up on God. I pray today, this is not the case for you. I pray that God would use this “drop” to wash away what has blurred your faith’s vision.
Bill Hybels, famous author and pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois has a little outline that he says he has used many times in his counseling sessions with people. He admits that it’s not his original and that many other pastors may have revised versions of it but say the same thing: It is the fact that God always knows the right answers to our prayers: “No,” “Slow,” “Grow,” or “Let’s go.” I like this outline so much, I want to adapt my personalized version.
This past week, I have talked to people and prayed with them about their struggles. And I feel that if we can use this outline in the next few “ripples”, we can allow God to speak to them and impact their situations! Sure, the outline may not be original but the personal experiences and applications here are.
If you’ve been praying and nothing seems to be happening, think on the following statements with reference to unanswered prayer:
The first one is: IF YOU PRAY THE WRONG PRAYER, GOD MAY SAY “NO”. No question, we are all capable of wrong or inappropriate prayers. And consequently, it would be naïve for us to believe that God has a standard “yes” answer to every prayer.
The question then is, “What’s classified as a “wrong” prayer? Or, “how do I know it’s wrong”? Good questions. These incidents in the New Testament present as good examples:
- The first is in Matthew 17 when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John. In awe of this glorious experience, witnessing the splendor of Jesus with Moses and Elijah, they came up with a great idea. They loved this transfiguration thing – and so they said, “Jesus, we have a great idea. Can we just build shelters up here? We’ll just live up here the rest of our lives, and bask in your glory.” What was Jesus’ response? “No, no, no, no no. That’s not how it works guys”. Well, why not? “Because, that’s not what this is about. Jesus says, we’ve got work to do down where people live. We’re not just going to stay up here and bask in my glory”. Wrong request. The answer is No!
- At another time, James and John went to Jesus. I’ll paraphrase what they asked: “Lord, you think you could make reservations for the best two seats in heaven for the 2 of us? We’d like to be your right and left hand men. Could you arrange that for us, Jesus?” Jesus said “Uh, uh, not going to happen, fellas. Wrong request. No, no, no.
- Here’s yet another: One day, Jesus and the disciples were denied passage through a certain part of Samaria. The disciples were so ticked off that they requested Jesus to destroy the entire region with fire from heaven. Jesus’ reply was, “No, I’m not here to torch people; I came to seek and to save the lost. No, I’m not going to grant that. Wrong request.”
Got the point? The disciples were fully capable of praying inappropriate prayers. And when the requests were wrong, Jesus said no! Aren’t we all capable of the same? I know I am. I do. And I probably will in the future. Are you capable of totally self-serving prayers? I am. How about blatantly materialistic, convenience-oriented, shortsighted, and perhaps immature prayers? I am.
You see, God loves us too much to say yes to wrong prayers! If it’s the wrong prayer, His answer is going to be NO! And you wouldn’t want Him to do anything less either. So if you have been praying diligently about something – and if you sense resistance from heaven, I would challenge you to review your request. It might be the problem. Maybe the request is destructive in ways you don’t understand – but God does! Or could it be in contradiction to He’s already revealed in His Word?
Maybe the request is self-serving or simply shortsighted. Here’s a thought: maybe you’re asking for something too small – and God happens to have something bigger and better in mind. He’s saying no to this one because he doesn’t want you to settle for less.
Because God is omniscient…. and because He cares for you too much, if the request is wrong, He will say no. At this point you know what you should do? You should review the prayer – or modify it – or better still, be mature enough to stop insisting on it. Let it go. If the request is wrong, God will say, “No” anyway.
Watch for the 2nd installment of “GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS – HE REALLY DOES!” on tomorrow’s “drop”.
