Unanswered Payers

Jesus made this promise, "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matt 21:22). However,  it is obvious that some prayers look as they have gone unanswered... the sick person will not heal, and instead, he will die... Why is this? The following are some of the reasons for it :

Whenever you have a storm in your life, and you pray to God, he will always answer!... and with a big YES!:

And God will answer you in one of these two ways:

     1- He will calm the storm: The sickness healed, the problem solved, the needed money appeared...
     2- Or He will calm you, and you will pass the storm in peace!… you or your relative may even reach Heaven forever, through that sickness!.

The real Prayer is an actualization of our love to God, prayer is love, based in our trust and faith in Him. All good prayer has to have the following 4 characteristics: Faith, trust, humility, and perseverance.

2- The promises of God never say "when" or "how":

The first time I read Jn.16:23, I owed two months of rent. The Verse says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name". It says "anything", so I asked the Father to give me one million dollars, in the name of Jesus, so I didn't have to be asking for it again every month.

Next day I didn't even had the money for the rent!… but now, 30 years later, I realize the prayer was answered: The money I have paid to publish my books, and radio and TV programs, and now in the internet, is more than 3 million dollars…. so my prayer was answered, at a due time!… And I didn't get my 3 million with money falling from the sky, as a miracle, but with my honest work. See, the promise does not say "when" nor "how" (Gal.6:9).

3- The ways of God are not our ways:

If your child asks for your gun or knife, probably you will not give it to him, you know better!… My child asked me for an ice-cream, but when I got home with his ice-cream, he had fever and pus in the tonsils, so, instead of the ice-cream, I put him an injection of penicillin…he cried a little, but that's what I thought was the best for him.

Well, the ways of God are as far as ours as the heavens from the earth… because God is always thinking about giving us Heaven, and we, most of the time, are thinking just on Earth.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Is.558-9).

4. Not seeking to Please the Lord:

1 John 3:22 "And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."

If you ask me a favor, and at the same time you hit me in the nose, I will not give you the favor… when we ask God in sin, is something similar… prayer is the expression of our love and faith in God, that's why the Bible says, "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him" (Jn.9:31).

5. Lack of Faith:

Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
We cannot please God without faith. Prayer is not merely "begging" from God. It is "believing" God and His Word! The fruit of this trust is love, and prayer is the expression of our love to God. Faith will come forth and grow as we devote our attention to the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Our faith can also be "built up," by praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20).

6- We have to be in his Church:

John 15:4-7 "Abide in me, and I in you… If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."

We have to abide in Christ and Christ in us. We in his Church, in his Mystical body, and Christ in our hearts. If we are not in his Church or if Jesus is not in us, our prayers are not acts of faith and love, they are not prayers, but rather the opposite, pure acts of selfishness.
So, unanswered prayers are sometimes a result of absence from fellowship with the Lord and His Word. Jesus promised that if we would remain in His fellowship, and allow His Word to remain in us, this would produce results in prayer.

7. Unconfessed Sin in One’s Life:

1 Peter 3:12 "For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil."

There is no doubt that sin will disrupt the flow of God’s blessings and answers to prayer. The psalmist, David wrote, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear" (Ps.66:18). All acts of rebellion and disobedience to God is considered sin. Sins of "commission," are those overt acts which are done in disobedience. However, sins of "omission," are those things we don’t do in obedience, but know we should (James 4:17). The remedy for all sin is to confess it to God, forsake it, and ask Him to forgive you (Jn.20:23, 1 John 1:9).

8. Improper Motives:

James 4:3 "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures."

Often with our prayers we just want to become famous or honored... Our motives in our prayer requests are of concern to the Lord. He wishes to help us in our time of need, but is not obligated to answer prayers which will merely feed our carnal, worldly appetites and (lustful) pleasures. Our motives and desires can be corrected by humbling ourselves, and drawing near to God (James 4:8-10).

9. Not asking in God’s will:

1 John 5:14-15 "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."
Often we want God to do our will instead of us doing the will of God, and that's not prayer, it is selfishness, exactly the opposite of prayer!.

10. Don’t know how to pray:

Luke 11:1 "...Lord, teach us to pray..."
Some lack effectiveness in prayer simply because they don’t know what the scriptures teach about prayer. Jesus gave His disciples an outline for prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Take the time to study it. Other passages teach that prayer is primarily to be a private, intimate time with the Lord (Matt. 6:6), to be intermingled with praise and thanksgiving (Acts 16:25, Phil. 4:6). Times of fasting with prayer are beneficial to strengthen our faith and power in prayer (Acts 14:23, 1 Cor. 7:5). Jesus often went to secluded places to spend prolonged periods in prayer (Luke 6:12, Matt. 4:2).

11. Misunderstanding of Faith:

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." Many do not understand that faith is believing in the reality of things, even though we cannot see them (Heb. 11:1). Jesus said that "when" you pray, you must believe that you "receive" your answer at that moment. The word, "receive" comes from the Greek word, LAMBANO, which means "to receive now" (present tense). He then says we will "have" them. "Have" comes from, ESOMAI, which means "to possess later" (future tense).
So, when we pray we must believe in the finished results of our prayer, and we will eventually experience the tangible results sometime later.

12. Wavering faith:

James 1:6-7 "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;"

There are those who allow every "wind" of feelings or circumstances to influence or discourage their faith. They vacillate back and forth, like the waves tossed about in the sea. One day they believe, but the next, they’re ready to give up, and so forth. Such persons usually base their faith on their feelings or emotions instead of God’s Word. They who waver in their faith cannot expect to receive "anything of the Lord." Our faith must become stable, steadfast, and consistent to receive from God.

13. Failure to apply spiritual Authority:

Mark 11:23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."

As Jesus indicates, there will be times that we may need to literally speak to mountains (symbolic of obstacles and problems) and tell them to move in Jesus’ name... we have to "command the mountain".

To cast out the demons of alcohol or drugs or jealousy or heresies, we have to command the bad spirit as Paul did, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you, come out of her!. And the spirit went out of her at that very moment" (Act.16:18)... just as Jesus told us to do, "In my name, you will cast out demons" (Mr.6:17).

14. Lack of Perseverance:

Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Be patient and persistent, keep believing, and don’t quit, no matter how long it takes! God has a "due season" when He will bring the answer to pass, "at its due time", and "in God's way".

For a good prayer, four virtues are always needed: Faith, humility, trust, and perseverance.