Have You Received What You Asked For In Prayer?
By Clarence Andrews
Some people pray and right away they receive an answer to their prayer, and some pray and it may be weeks, months, or even years before they receive what they have prayed about. Some people have asked the question, “Why is it that my prayers never seem to get answered, or why does God take so long in answering prayer”? Well, there are many reasons why our prayers go so long unanswered, or never answered. In the next series of questions we will explore and find the answers to these questions and others.
Why do we pray?
One of the first things that come to mind is! it is our most intimate time with God; we in essence communicate with the father. We need this time with the Father so that we might ask his forgiveness for our sins, and to let him know what is troubling our hearts. We use this time to empty our hearts out to him, to ask for forgiveness, for needs to be met in our lives, to thank him, and sometimes to praise him. Another reason we pray is because Jesus prayed, and Jesus was a living example of what our prayer lives should be like. Prayer is not just for when things are going bad in our lives, but prayer is for when things are going good as well. Giving a prayer of thanksgiving is something we should do whenever we pray. So remember, Let us not pray only when we need something from God, but pray to thank him, and to remind him of how good and wonderful is his unfailing love.
We need to know how to pray to God, and Jesus gives the best example of this in Luke 11: 1-4. As it is written, One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “ Lord teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “ When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” If you forgive others when they have sinned against you, then God the Father will forgive you of your sins. But if you don’t forgive others of the sins they committed against you, then nor will God forgive you of your sins. We read also in Matthew 6: 5-8, “ But when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the streets corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father, who is unseen. Then you’re Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” We do not need to go to God in prayer with a bunch of empty words. God already knows what we need before we ever ask him. So, if you think a long prayer is going to impress God, you had better think again. If you are in church and you are asked to lead in prayer, you do not have to make it a long prayer. More than likely, you have observed other church members who have lead the congregation in prayer go into a 15 to 20 min. prayer sermon. You don’t have to do the same, the Lord knows what you are about to say before you even say it; don’t do it to be seen by others. And before you pray, think about others that you may have wronged, and get rid of any un-forgiveness, or animosity you may be keeping in your heart against anyone. God will not hear the prayer of anyone who still has un-forgiven sin, or animosity in his or her heart. Come to God with a clean heart, and humble yourself before him. Last, you should pray believing that what you have asked for will be done. If we pray, we must have faith in what we are praying for. The whole Christian walk is about faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God.
And still expect our prayers to
This question has already been answered above. No, no, and no again, we cannot live our lives any kind of way; living outside of God’s principles and still expect God to honor our prayer request. You can’t go to the clubs on Saturday night, and then on Sunday you’re in church shouting in the pews. And you cannot sleep in Mary’s, Alice’s, tom, or bill’s bed during the week and expect to get an answer to your prayers, it just don’t work like that.
The simplest way to explain this is, God is not on our time, but we are on his. God may be waiting on that person to get in line with his word, or the time may not be right for God to move. Then it could be a lack of faith on our part concerning the thing we’ve prayed about, or what we’ve prayed for may not be in the will of God. And we must keep in mind that God sees time different than we do. What may appear to be taking weeks, months, or years, may only be a matter of minutes, hours, or even days in God’s eye. But God is the only one who makes the decision when that prayer will be answered. We cannot make God move any faster by falling down crying, repeatedly asking, “when God, when”, or throwing a temper tantrum. When we pray we need to get in the right frame of mind, and trust him to do what he has promised to do in his word.