Why Our Prayers May Not Be Answered!

 

What Is Prayer?

Prayers! What are they surely?

This is probably a question that may not give you problems to answer. You may have severally been taught about it in Sunday school. Prayer is talking to God. This definition looks one-sided in a way.  Nobody wants to talk without getting a response. We need God to answer our prayers too. Prayer therefore is communication to God. Communication is whereby one talks and listens for the other to answer. Communication is never complete unless we receive a response to our prayers. We as Christians should never pray from morning till evening without giving God chance to respond to our prayers.

 

God Answers Prayer!

There are obviously some conditions we have to meet for God to answer our prayer. Gerry Bridges in his book, The Practice Of Godliness, outlines that we need to practice godliness in order to please God and have our prayer answered. He describes godliness as devotion to God. He further outlines this devotion in three strong words:-

  1. Fear of God.
  2. Love of God. And finally
  3. Desire for God.

One needs to have these in order for God to answer our prayers. We need also to:-

  • Pray
  • Until
  • Something
  • Happens

Why God May Not Answer Our Prayer.

  • Praying for wrong reasons. A person may pray to God to give him property to use to boast to others.
  • Praying when you have iniquities. Sins may prevent God from listening and answering your prayer. God delights in clean prayers.
  • Praying with hands full of blood and your heart full of hatred. When you hate your brother it is as if you are a killer. Your hands are therefore full of blood. God will not answer your prayers.
  • Praying without specifically telling God what you need. ‘God bless us’ is a common prayer of many Christians. That prayer is vague in that you do not mention exactly what you need God to bless you with.
  • When two Christians ask God for the same thing e.g a job where one person is needed; then God will answer only one.

 

The list here is long but let me just stop here.