How God Answers Prayer If God answers your prayer, He is increasing your faith, if He delays, He is increasing your patience, if He doesn t answer your prayer your way, He is preparing the very best for you! So far we have learned about how building a great church involves prayer, about how prayer brings revival, about the secret to believing prayer, that to pray in the name of Jesus we must be abiding in Him. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees. William Cowper Today we will learn about how God answers prayer: John 15:7 If you abide in Me (remain in Me), and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. NKJV Abiding in Jesus means we are remaining, continuing, dwelling, staying put, being faithful to Him, and walking daily with Him. The Bible tells us that as we abide, we are to pray without ceasing. Yet the average prayer time for Christians is 5-7 minutes every day. Why don t people pray more? Maybe they don t believe their prayers are being answered. Maybe they have lost faith in the power of prayer because they don t understand how God answers prayer. A major reason our prayers are not answered is that because to some, prayer is only for emergencies! Danger threatens, sickness comes, we don t have the things we need, difficulties arise then we pray! God, just get me out of this mess This is not believing prayer! You are not abiding in Jesus if this is the only time you ever pray! We must recognize the following about believing prayer: God wants us to pray and has told us to pray: Matthew 7:7-8: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. NKJV Jesus intercedes for us: 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus NKJV Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. NKJV The Spirit helps us: Romans 8:26-27: And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God s own will. God is willing to listen and answer: 1 Peter 3:12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil. Psalm 6:9 The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer. Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous. God is all powerful and able to respond to our requests: Ephesians 3:20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 1
If we are truly abiding in Jesus, then God hears (attends) and answers our prayers in at least one of four ways: 1) God may answer yes when we ask. God often grants our requests (always for forgiveness/our needs): Psalm 118:5 In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. Psalm 138:3 - As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength. For God to answer yes, we must be asking according to His will, and we must be doing His will in our lives: Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven NKJV Psalm 40:8 I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart. Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God 1 John 3:22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. Matthew 6:33-34: Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today s trouble is enough for today. 1 John 5:14-15: And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. A true Christian does God s will and wants God s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven! I cannot imagine a Christian wanting anything other than God s will to be done so if it s in the plan of God ask for it! Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God. Phillip Brooks 2) God may answer yes when we ask, but He may delay giving us what we ask for because it isn t the right time for it. It could take a long time. So we may think God is saying no when He is really saying Yes, but wait Jesus could have come and healed Lazarus when he was still alive. Instead, He waited to raise him from the dead when he was already in his grave. God could have made David king the day after he was anointed. Instead, David waited 15 years, many of those years spent fearing for his life, hiding out and running away from his own father-in-law. God could have spoken to Moses in the desert about sending him to help free His people from slavery 40 days after he ran away from Egypt. Instead, He made him wait for 40 long years. God could have gotten Joseph out of prison one year after he was sentenced there. Instead, he was stuck in that dungeon for 10 years before he was finally set free. God could have given Abraham the son He promised him when he was still a young man. Instead, He waited until he was 100 years old and because of physical reasons would have a more difficult time conceiving at that age. God could have answered prayers and met the needs of these men of God much quicker, but He didn t. He made them wait instead. And He often makes us do the same! He makes us wait for healing to come after we ve been praying for years and there is no sign of recovery. He makes us wait to fulfill His call in our lives after He puts the desire and passion in our hearts to serve Him in a certain way. 2
He makes us wait to give us the desires of our hearts, whether it s a baby, a spouse, or a new job. He makes us wait for direction when we are stuck at a dead end and we don t know where to go or what to do. He could answer that same prayer that you ve been praying for years every night in a millisecond - that same prayer that has been bringing you to tears - that same prayer that the longer it goes unanswered, the more it makes you question whether He even hears. He kept Moses in a desert for 40 years! Joseph in a prison cell for 10 years! Abraham without a child for 100 years! David on the run for 15 years! And maybe He is keeping you right where you re at for the same reason He kept these men for so many years: to build your faith! To build your faith when it s too dark to see and too hard to believe! To build your dependence on Him when you are barren and empty to see if He is truly all you desire and all you need. To see how well you will trust and serve Him when you are still stuck in the background somewhere, doing seemingly nothing too significant for Him. To build your trust in Him when the storm keeps raging, the battle keeps going and victory doesn t seem near. He makes us wait so that we grow in faith and learn to only depend on Him. What are you waiting for today? What longing do you have that seems so far from ever being fulfilled? What prayer do you keep on praying that seems to never reach God s ears? I want to remind you that God is not deaf to your prayers. He is not blind to your constant tears, to your desires, and to your needs. If He is making you wait, there is a very good reason for it! If He is telling you no today, maybe it s because He has a better yes waiting for you tomorrow. If He is keeping you in the same place you ve always been today, maybe it s because He s helping build your faith before you enter your Promised Land tomorrow. If He is not healing you or bringing you victory today, maybe it s because you will have a greater testimony when He waits to help you be an overcomer tomorrow. Wherever you are today, know that God is right beside you and that there is a purpose for you. Even if that purpose is to wait! Don t give up just because you don t see anything happening today. Maybe there is nothing physically happening that your eyes can see but there is definitely something happening in the spiritual realm as you learn to rely on Christ. Don t allow your waiting period to make you hopeless about what tomorrow will bring! Instead, let it build your faith and give you even greater hope for what God has prepared for you. He made some of the greatest men of faith wait. Don t be discouraged if He makes you wait as well. He will come through for you, just like He came through for them. When the answer seems to be yes, but wait, we need to have the patience to keep asking, seeking, and knocking: Luke 18:1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. God making us wait is His answer for the moment. God s timing is always right - but it may not be right now! Patience is trusting in God s timing. Psalm 27:14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. 3
3) God may answer yes but not as you think. Sometimes God answers in a way differently than we may anticipate. He may have something else in mind. Remember, His thoughts and methods are much different than ours: Isaiah 55:8-9: My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. For example, asking God for strength and perseverance means He may give us trials to bear: Philippians 1:29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. This in turn develops the virtues we prayed for: Romans 5:3-4: We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. We should always trust in God s answers, and if it is something else than what we specifically prayed for, we should thank God that He loves us enough to give us the very best! Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer. Oswald Chambers 4) There may be times when God says no and denies our requests: James 4:2-3: You want what you don t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don t have what you want is that you don t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don t get it because your whole motive is wrong you want only what will give you pleasure. Jesus compares prayer to a child asking his father for something: Matthew 7:9-11: You parents - if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Now, is it good or bad to give a child everything they ask for? What happens to that child as they grow up? Now imagine what would happen if we actually got everything we were praying for and in the way we want it? That wouldn t be a blessing, but a curse. Just like with little children, you and I don t know the future. We can t foresee the damage that could be done to ourselves or others. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God s work from beginning to end. As the song goes I thank God for unanswered prayer! Some of God s greatest gifts come to us when He says No! Remember, if God does say no, He will provide the grace and mercy to do without: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9: so to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. The answer to our prayers will always be what is best spiritually for a faithful child of God! The question is, do you believe that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect for you? Do you believe that God knows best? That s the heart of the issue. We must trust that God knows what is best for us. 4
When we pray, we must understand that we will never be able to dictate to God what He will do but He calls on us to always expect an answer to our prayers! 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. NKJV Ask yourself if you really do believe what Jesus said in Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. NKJV If you do, do you really expect God to answer your prayers? If you do, then live like it. But if you don t expect anything, then don t expect anything! Concluding thoughts Hebrews 4:14-16: So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Notice that God doesn t say, Come to Me with a weak, defeated, pitiful attitude. He doesn t say, Come to Me thinking about all your failures and how unworthy you are. No, God says, Come to Me with boldness. Come to Me with your head held high, knowing that I m a good God! Come to Me knowing that you are the apple of My eye, and I want to be good to you and to help you. God is a wonderful God, and one of the most wonderful things about Him is that He puts His all at the disposal of the prayer of faith. We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth. Andrew Murray Believing prayer from a wholly-cleansed heart never fails to receive an answer, which is always what is best for the person praying. God has given us His word for it. Psalm 145:18-19: The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. 5