Have you ever
known
someone who
really trusts
God? When I
was an
atheist, I had a
good friend
who prayed
often. She would tell me every week about
something she was trusting God to take care
of. And every week I would see God do
something unusual to answer her prayer. Do
you know how difficult it is for an atheist to
observe this week after week? After a while,
"coincidence" begins to sound like a very
weak argument.
So why would God answer my friend's
prayers? The biggest reason is that she had a
relationship with God. She wanted to follow
God. And she actually listened to what he
said. In her mind, God had the right to direct
her in life, and she welcomed him doing just
that! When she prayed for things, it was a
natural part of her relationship with God. She
felt very comfortable coming to God with her
needs, her concerns, and whatever issues
were current in her life. Furthermore, she was
convinced, from what she read in the Bible,
that God wanted her to rely on him like that.
She pretty much exhibited what this
statement from the Bible says, "This is the
confidence we have in approaching God: that
if we ask anything according to his will, he
hears us." 1 "For the eyes of the Lord are on
the righteous and his ears are attentive to
their prayer..." 2
So, Why Doesn't God Answer Everyone's
Prayers?
It may be because they don't have a
relationship with God. They may know that
God exists, and they might even worship God
from time to time. But those who never seem
to have their prayers answered probably don't
have a relationship with him. Further, they
have never received from God complete
forgiveness for their sin. What does that have
to do with it you ask? Here is an explanation.
"Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to
save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your
iniquities have separated you from your God.
Your sins have hidden his face from you, so
that he will not hear." 3
It's pretty natural to feel that separation from
God. When people begin to ask God for
something, what usually takes place? They
begin with, "God, I really need your help with
this problem..." And then there's a pause,
followed by a restart... "I realize that I'm not a
perfect person, that I actually have no right to
ask you for this..." There's an awareness of
personal sin and failure. And the person
knows that it's not just them; that God is
aware of it too. There's a feeling of, "Who am
I kidding?" What they may not know is how
they can receive God's forgiveness for all their
sin. They might not know that they can come
into a relationship with God so that God will
hear them. This is the foundation for God
answering your prayer.
How Does Prayer Work?
You must first begin a relationship with God.
Here's why. Imagine that a guy named Mike
asks the president of Princeton University to
co-sign a car loan for him. If Mike doesn't
personally know the president of Princeton,
that car loan is not going to happen. Yet, if
the daughter of this president asked her dad
to co-sign a car loan for her, it would be no
problem. Relationship matters.
With God, when the person is actually a child
of God, when the person belongs to God, he
knows them and hears their prayers. Jesus
said, "I am the good shepherd. I know my
sheep and my sheep know me...my sheep
listen to my voice. I know them and they
follow me. I give them eternal life and they
shall never perish; no one can snatch them
out of my hand." 4
When it comes to God then, do you really
know him and does he know you? Do you have
a relationship with him that warrants God
answering your prayers? Or is God pretty
distant, pretty much just a concept in your
life? If God is distant, or you're not sure that
you know God, here is how you can begin a
relationship with him right now: Getting
Connected.
Will God Definitely Answer Your Prayer?
For those who do know him and rely on him,
Jesus seems to be wildly generous in his
offer: "If you remain in me and my words
remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
will be given you." 5 To "remain" in him and
have his words remain in them means they
conduct their lives aware of him, relying on
him, listening to what he says. Then they're
able to ask him whatever they want. Here is
another qualifier: "This is the confidence we
have in approaching God: 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 what we
asked of him." 6 God answers our prayers
according to his will (and according to his
wisdom, his love for us, his holiness, etc.).
Where we trip up is assuming we know God's
will, because a certain thing makes sense to
us! We assume that there is only one right
"answer" to a specific prayer, assuming
certainly THAT would be God's will. And this is
where it gets tough. We live within the limits
of time and limits of knowledge. We have only
limited information about a situation and the
implications of future action on that situation.
God's understanding is unlimited. How an
event plays out in the course of life or history
is only something he knows. And he may have
purposes far beyond what we could even
imagine. So, God is not going to do something
simply because we determine that it must be
his will.
What Does It Take? What is God Inclined to
Do?
Pages and pages could be filled about God's
intentions toward us. The entire Bible is a
description of the kind of relationship God
wants us to experience with him and the kind
of life he wants to give us. Here are just a
few examples:
"...the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He
rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is
a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for
[trust] him!" 7 Did you catch that? Like
someone rising out of his chair to come to
your help, "He rises to show you compassion."
"As for God, his way is perfect...He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him." 8 "The Lord
delights in those who fear [reverence] him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love." 9
However, God's greatest display of his love
and commitment to you is this: Jesus said,
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay
down his life for his friends," 10 which is what
Jesus did for us. And so, "If God is for us,
who can ever be against us? Since God did
not spare even his own Son but gave him up
for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also
give us everything else?" 11
What about "Unanswered" Prayer?
Certainly people get sick, even die; financial
problems are real, and all sorts of very
difficult situations can come up. What then?
God tells us to give our concerns to him. Even
as the situation remains dismal, "Cast all your
anxiety on him, because he cares for you." 12
The circumstances may look out of control,
but they aren't. When the whole world seems
to be falling apart, God can keep us together.
This is when a person can be very grateful
that they know God. "The Lord is near. Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all
comprehension, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus." 13 God may
provide solutions, resolutions to the problem
WAY beyond what you imagined possible.
Probably any Christian could list examples like
this in their own lives. But if the
circumstances do not improve, God can still
give us his peace in the midst of it. Jesus
said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give
to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let
it be fearful." 14
It is at this point (when circumstances are
still tough) that God asks us to continue to
trust him -- to "walk by faith, not by sight" the
Bible says. But it's not blind faith. It is based
on the very character of God. A car traveling
on the Golden Gate Bridge is fully supported
by the integrity of the bridge. It doesn't
matter what the driver may be feeling, or
thinking about, or discussing with someone in
the passenger seat. What gets the car safely
to the other side is the integrity of the bridge,
which the driver was willing to trust.
In the same way, God asks us to trust his
integrity, his character...his compassion, love,
wisdom, righteousness on our behalf. He says,
"I have loved you with an everlasting love,
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to
you." 15 "Trust in him at all times, O people.
Pour out your heart before him. God is a
refuge for us." 16
In Summary
God has offered to answer the prayers of his
children (those who have received him into
their lives and seek to follow him). He asks us
to take any concerns to him in prayer and he
will act upon it according to his will. As we
deal with difficulties we are to cast our cares
on him and receive from him a peace that
defies the circumstances. The basis for our
hope and faith is the character of God
himself. The better we know him, the more
apt we are to trust him.
For more on the character of God, please see
"Who is God?" or other articles on this site.
The reason we pray is God's character. The
first prayer God answers is your prayer to
begin a relationship with God.
Footnotes: (1) 1 John 5:14 (2) 1 Peter 3:12
(3) Isaiah 59:1,2 (4) John 10:14,27-28 (5)
John 15:7 (6) 1 John 5:14,15 (7) Isaiah 30:18
(8) Psalms 18:30 (9) Psalms 147:11 (10) John
15:13 (11) Romans 8:32 (12) 1 Peter 5:7 (13)
Philippians 4:5-7 (14) John 14:27 (15)
Jeremiah 31:3 (rsv) (16) Psalms 62:8
