On a recent Sunday, those worshipping at CrossPoint Community Church were encouraged to text in their questions and doubts during Matt’s message. Some were answered “live.” The best of the rest will be answered here.
TEXT: Pastor Matt, why does God ignore my prayers?
The word that stands out to me is “ignore.” It might seem like God ignores our prayers, but let me remind you of two things. First, the scriptures tell us that any prayer offered in Jesus’ name will not only be heard by God the Father but answered by God the Father. Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through Jesus we both have access, in one Spirit, to the Father.” Likewise, Jesus himself says this, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.” John 14:14.
So if you’re praying through Jesus - that is, with your heart holding on to him as your ultimate hope - then you can be confident that God the Father hears and receives your prayer.
Second, just because God doesn’t answer a prayer in a way that we like, the way that we want, or even in a way we can see it doesn’t mean that He’s ignoring us. As one of my good friends likes to say, “Hey, ‘no’ is an answer too.” And in those times when it looks like ‘no’ is all God’s got for us, we have to remember that He’s in the process of painting a giant picture called “all of history and humanity” that we cannot entirely see or grasp. And so, much like our young kids have to do with us, we simply hold on to the hope that even though we don’t understand Him that He must know what he’s doing.
Likewise, the Bible also teaches us that prayer is less a means to getting what you want and more a way to express your devotion, trust, and dependence upon God. When we pray we’re being obedient to His command for us to do so, we’re sharing our heart in an act of love, and we’re leaving it with Him as a show of trust.
One last verse. This is a good one to keep in your back pocket. “And this is the confidence that we have toward God: that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” 1 John 5:14
- Pastor Matt
March 11th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
… according to His will. That’s the catch, eh?
March 12th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Live text questions?! i *LOVE* this! Pure genius, friend.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Sometimes the answer may be “no”, but at other times it seems that God requires us to stretch our faith and keep praying. For example, the parable of the unrighteous judge (Luke 18:1-8), which is to teach us “always to pray and not lose heart”. After describing how an unrighteous judge responded to a widow’s pleas due to her persistence, Jesus indicates that our good Father will certainly do the same for us, if we have faith.
Luke 11:5-13 makes the same point. So the answer might be no, or otherwise different than we would like, as described above. But the answer might also be “yes”, but conditioned upon our having faith to keep praying.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:36 am
They were studying that passage (Luke 18:1-8) in Jammin’ Hour recently and my son wanted to know if God changes his mind. It sparked an interesting debate. I think the answer, though, may not be yes or no but akin to the answer to “can God create a rock too big for Him to lift?” It’s outside of our understanding. Somehow God is truly sovereign over everything while at the same time persistent prayer somehow moves the hand of God (but mostly moves us).
March 18th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I preached last wednesday on Jesus’ prayer in the garden - you know, when his buddies couldn’t stay awake? Anyway, what struck me about prayer in one of the commentaries was that Jesus prays three times in the garden, weighed down in agony over the cup he must bear. The first time, he asks if there is any other way, “nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” The second time, he no longer asks for any other way, but prays “your will be done.” The third time he uses the same words as the second. Then, He rises in peace to meet his fate head on. Even though Jesus - that’s Jesus - doesn’t get what he ‘wants,’ prayer works Him through the process of accepting God’s Will for Him. Prayer isn’t a magic formula for getting what we want, it is communion with God. It works us through a process where we may not get what we think we want, but we become more in tune with God’s will and more fully who we are called to be. It take’s a lifetime, mind - good thing we’ve got one. So, as Jesus did, pray, and pray again. Keep praying.
March 19th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I agree with Frank, “His will” is the key. I learned a long time ago not to pray for things that I want but to pray for guidance, strength and that His will be done. Prayers are answered in different ways just because you don’t get what you want doesn’t mean He didn’t answer your prayer. It just means that He may not have answered it exactly as you wanted Him to.