The last trick the devil uses to trick believers is to instill doubt in their minds regarding God’s faithfulness to answer prayers. Satan would have us feel that God has abandoned us to sort things out on our own and has closed His ears to our cries.
To be honest, a lot of God’s saints have trouble answering this question: “If God hears my prayers and I pray fervently, why is there so little proof that He is answering?” Have you been praying for a certain prayer for a very long time, and it hasn’t been answered yet? Have months or perhaps years passed while you continue to wait, wondering and hoping?
It’s time for Christians to examine the causes of our prayers being answered insincere. It is possible for us to accuse God of neglect when, in reality, it is our own actions that are to blame. I’ll list just six of the numerous reasons why our prayers go unanswered.
First Reason: When our prayers do not align with God’s will, they are rejected.
We are not free to pray for everything our self-centered thoughts can think of at random. We are not allowed to enter his presence and air our foolish ideas and meaningless babble. Should God grant every one of our requests without hesitation, He would ultimately forfeit His glory.
The rule of prayer exists! The goal of the law is to filter out petty, self-serving prayers while allowing sincere seekers to make discreet requests. Put another way, as long as it is God’s will, we are free to ask for anything.
“He hears us if we ask Him in accordance with His will” (1 John 5:14).
When the disciples prayed for vengeance and revenge, they were not praying in accordance with God’s will. “Should we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” was how they begged God. “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of,” Jesus retorted (Luke 9:54, 55).
Job cried out to God, pleading for him to take his life. What if such a request had been granted by God? Such prayer was not in line with God’s will. “Let not thy lip be hasty to utter a matter before the Lord,” the Bible cautions.
Daniel said his prayers correctly. He started by searching God’s mind through the Scriptures. He rushes to God’s throne with a powerful assurance, certain of God’s will and having received clear guidance. Daniel 9:3 states, “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer.”
Too little is known about what He desires, and too much is known about what we want.
Second Reason: When our prayers are meant to satisfy fantasies, illusions, or inner lust, they may be abandoned.
James 4:3 states, “You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lust.”
No prayer that would increase our honor or facilitate our temptations will be heard by God. In the first place, a person with lust in their heart will never have their prayer answered by God. All of the answers depend on us taking the evil, the lust, and the bothersome sins out of our hearts.
According to Psalm 66:18, “The Lord will not hear me if I regard iniquity in my heart.”
It’s easy to determine whether or not our request is motivated by lust. The clue is in the way we respond to denials and delays. Urgent prayers born of passion require prompt responses. The lustful heart whimpers, cries, swoons, and faints if it does not have its way. Alternatively, it goes into a murmur and complains until it accuses God of being deaf.
They ask, “Why have we fasted, and thou seeest not?” (Isaiah 58:3).
The glory of God in His refusals and delays is invisible to the lustful heart. However, did God not receive greater glory when Christ asked to be spared, if at all possible, from death? I shudder to consider where we might be at this time if God had granted that prayer.
God has the right, in His justice, to hold off on answering our petitions until they are free of all lust and selfishness.
Is there a possible explanation for why the majority of our prayers are not answered? Is it because we’re still toying with a besetting sin or lust? Have we forgotten that the only people who are allowed to go on His sacred hill are those who have pure hearts and clean hands? The only way to unlock the blessings and open the gates of paradise is to completely give up a pet sin.
Rather than submitting, we seek assistance from multiple counselors in an attempt to manage feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, and restlessness. But if sin and lust are still there, it is all for nothing. The source of all our issues is sin. Only when we give up and abstain from all lust and hidden sin will we find peace.
Reason Three: If We Don’t Put Up Any Effort to Help God Provide the Solution, Our Prayers May Be Rejected.
We approach God as though He were an affluent relative who would assist us and grant all of our requests, while we do nothing to support Him. After raising our hands in prayer to God, we put them in our pockets.
While we sit back and think to ourselves, “He has all the power; I have none, so I will simply stand still and let him do the work,” we expect our prayers to move God to work on our behalf.
Although it seems like sound theology, it is not. There won’t be any idle beggars at God’s door. Even being kind to people who on earth refuse to labor is forbidden by God.
According to 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “We command you that if any would not work, he should not eat.”
The act of mixing perspiration with tears is not in conflict with scripture. Consider the issue of asking for help in overcoming a lingering secret lust in the heart. Do you just pray to God for a miraculous removal and then wait for it to pass away on its own? No sin in the heart has ever been eradicated without human assistance, as Joshua’s did. He lay in a prone position, weeping over Israel’s loss, the entire night. Saying, “Get thee up; why liest thou thus upon thy face?” God raised him to his feet. Israel is a sinful people. Lift up, sanctify the populace. (John 7:10–13).
God is quite justified in grabbing us off our knees and asking, “Why do you sit around idly, hoping for a miracle? Did I not tell you to run at the very thought of evil? You are commanded not just to pray against your lust but to flee from it as well. You can’t stop until you’ve followed all the instructions.
We cannot give in to our sinful and lustful cravings all day long and then hide in the secret closet at night to beg for a miracle of deliverance.
Since unrepentant sin is essentially siding with the devil, secret sin makes it difficult for us to stay on God’s side in prayer. “Revealer of Secrets” is one of God’s names (Daniel 2:47). No matter how holy the one trying to conceal it may be, he must reveal the dark secrets. God is more likely to reveal sin if someone goes to greater lengths to conceal it. Secret sin never has an easy ride.
According to Psalm 90:8, “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.”
over all, God will defend his honor over the reputation of people who do sins covertly. In order to maintain His honor in front of ungodly mankind, God revealed David’s transgressions. Every time we read about David in the Scriptures, we see him standing before us, exposed, and yet confessing. David was extremely envious of his own good name and reputation.
No, we cannot try to drink from God’s holy fountain after stealing water from it. Our secret sin will not only be discovered, but it will also deprive us of God’s best and unleash a torrent of uncertainty, fear, and hopelessness.
If you’re not hearing God’s call to obedience, don’t blame Him for not answering your prayers. You’ll wind up demonizing God and charging Him with carelessness, even though you were the one who was at fault all along.
Reason Four: A secret grudge we may have against someone else in our hearts may cause our prayers to fail.
A spiteful and unforgiving mentality will not win over Christ. According to 1 Peter 2:1–2, we are to “lay aside every malice, envy, and ill speech, and crave the true milk of the Word, as newborn infants do.”
Christ will not even speak to someone who is jangling, clinging, and unforgiving. Lift up pure hands without wrath or disputing is God’s law of prayer on this point (1 Timothy 2:8). It is impossible for God to pardon and bless us if we do not pardon the sins done against us. “Forgive us, as we forgive others,” he commanded us to pray.
Is there a resentment toward someone simmering in your heart? Consider it nothing more than something you are entitled to. Such things are exceedingly significant to God. More than all the misdeeds of the ungodly, all the arguments and quarreling among Christian brothers and sisters must break His heart. It makes sense that our prayers are being hindered since we have grown so preoccupied with our own wounded sentiments and worried about being mistreated by others.
In religious circles, a cancerous mistrust is also growing. In God’s name, may there be no more jealousies, unkindness, bitterness, or spirit of retaliation. Until we learn to love and forgive, we shouldn’t be concerned about whether God closes the very doors of heaven on us. Indeed, even the people who have harmed us the most. The storm will subside if you remove this Jonah from your ship.
Reason Five: If we don’t expect much from our prayers, we risk having them rejected.
A person who has low expectations for prayer will not be able to pray with much authority or power. We lose it when we start to doubt the efficacy of prayer. The appearance that prayer is ineffective is the devil’s attempt to rob us of hope.
How cunning Satan is to try to trick us by spreading unfounded worries and lies. Even though it was a deception, Isaac was sickened to despair when he was told that Joseph had been killed. While Joseph was living and doing well, his father was grieving because he had fallen for the deception. Thus, lies are what Satan is doing to try to trick us today.
A believer who refuses to believe is robbed of joy and faith in God. Only sincere prayers are heard by God. He does not hear every prayer. The only defense we have against the enemy’s flaming darkness is prayer. If we don’t wield that weapon with tremendous confidence, we won’t have any other line of defense against the lies of Satan. The repute of God is under jeopardy.
Our impatience is sufficient evidence that we shouldn’t anticipate much from prayer. We are prepared to continue fumbling through after leaving the prayer closet in secret, and we wouldn’t be surprised if God responded.
We see no sign of an answer, so we assume God has not heard us. You may be certain, though, that a prayer will ultimately become more perfect the longer it is postponed. Furthermore, the answer is louder the deeper the stillness.
God granted Abraham’s request for a kid. And yet, before he held that infant in his arms, how many years passed? All sincere prayers are heard instantly; but, God has the discretion to respond according to His own schedule and method. God expects us to feast on hope and celebrate the bare promises in the meantime as we wait for their fulfillment. To keep us from giving up, He also envelops His rejections in a lovely blanket of love.
Reason Six: When we try to tell God how to answer our prayers, we end ourselves praying in vain.
The only person we set boundaries with is the one we lack confidence in. We provide those we trust the freedom to act morally. It all comes down to a distrustful mindset.
Once the believer has poured out his heart to the Lord in prayer, he surrenders to God’s faithfulness, goodness, and wisdom. A sincere believer will leave the formulation of the response to God’s grace. The believer will accept God’s response in whatever form He chooses.
After offering up fervent prayers for his family, David vowed to uphold God’s agreement, saying, “Though my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me a covenant” (2 Samuel 23:5).
God is essentially limited by those who tell him how and when to respond. They are the Holy One of Israel. They won’t know God is coming around the back because He won’t bring the solution through the front door. Promises are not trusted; only conclusions are. However, God will not be constrained by space, time, or means to respond. He always goes above and beyond everything we could possibly ask or imagine of asking for. He will respond with grace greater than health or with health. He is going to send love, or something better. He’ll either deliver or go above and beyond.
In summary
God’s Saints, if we do not return to watching and praying, then we alone will lose. When we stay out of the prayer closet, we become aloof, seductive, and playful. What a depressing awakening awaits individuals who have been sluggish their entire lives and now foolishly carry hidden resentment toward the Lord for not responding their prayers. We haven’t been passionate and effective. We haven’t isolated ourselves from Him. We still carry the burden of our bothersome sins. Most of all, we have asked to eat it out of selfish lust. We question, doubt, believe, and are materialistic, and then we wonder why our prayers are not heard.
Christ will not discover faith on earth when He returns unless we retire to the inner closet and isolate ourselves with Him and His Word.
