Unanswered Prayer

 

When God Chooses Not to Answer Prayer “Our Way”?


By Pastor Dan Kennedy

© October 3, 2010

www.pastorkennedy.com

(On the website above, click the link to “recent message notes” to view this message online.)


Today we are considering a complex subject, which can stir up extremely emotional turmoil for some.  Many people have “walked away” from God on the pretext that they felt God had not answered their prayer, especially during a time of extreme need.  If He didn’t care for them, then they wouldn’t care for Him.  In doing so, they revealed certain things about themselves, which could not be revealed otherwise.


There are several Scriptures that make it clear if we ask anything in God’s will, by faith, we will receive…we can move mountains, the Bible declares!


If you have been a Christian any length of time, you will have most likely experienced the blessing of answered prayer…sometimes we may see miraculous answered prayer, but there are also times for all of us, when we do not receive that for which we may have earnestly prayed.  It is this subject of “unanswered prayer” that we are Biblically discussing today.


You may also have heard the generic response to “unanswered prayer” as, “God always answers prayer…either ‘Yes, No, or Wait Awhile!’”  Today, we are going to step out gingerly a bit further than this short, classic answer.


I believe an honest way to better comprehend this subject is for us, first of all, to realize the vastness of God’s Person.   To begin with a more comprehensive view of God allows us to gain a more complete answer to these persistent questions. 


Understanding Prayer in View of God’s Vast Economy


The Vast Breadth of God’s Personal Involvement

Terms theologians use in referring to God include words such as “omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, etc.” – or all-present, all-knowing, and all-powerful, etc.


God is completely universally “Global”.  He understands the Big Picture of Everything, yet He is fully aware of and has ultimate consideration of every micro-detail relating to every individual to the smallest factor – including complete understanding of each person’s sensing, motives, knowledge, perceptions, foibles and fallacies.  Only God is powerful enough to consider every detail and respond to our prayers.  Only God can be completely just in His Judgment.


God not only is critical in answering our requests, He is the primary factor in answering our neighbor’s prayer, our enemies’ prayer, our brother and sister’s prayer, and every other person’s prayer who prays…in the whole world.  Each of these prayers can be related to other intricate factors, time lines and interrelated dimensions in other’s lives.  Whether we realize it or not each of our prayers and cries to God for help are not “stand alone” requests, affecting no one else.  If God were not an Awesome, Global, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent God, there would never be any hope for any of us to have an answered prayer!


Isaiah 40

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

14 Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.


Psalm 50

10 For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11I know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.


In the four chapters near the close of his book, Job is confronted by God regarding the global and detailed care that God has for the world and its inhabitants, in comparison to our extreme incapability and limitations as humans.  Below is a sampling of God’s confrontation to Job (and us) as proud and non-comprehending humans.


Job 38

3Dress for action like a man;

I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

6On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone,

7when the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8“Or who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb,

9when I made clouds its garment

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10and prescribed limits for it

and set bars and doors,

11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

12“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

and caused the dawn to know its place,

13that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

and the wicked be shaken out of it?

14It is changed like clay under the seal,

and its features stand out like a garment.

15From the wicked their light is withheld,

and their uplifted arm is broken.

16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,

or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this.

19“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

and where is the place of darkness,

20that you may take it to its territory

and that you may discern the paths to its home?

21You know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

22“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23which I have reserved for the time of trouble,

for the day of battle and war?

24What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,

or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?


How prideful and foolish are we who raise ourselves up in the Presence of the Creator of the Universe!  There is no comparison.



God is Profoundly Aware of the Most Minute Event


Matthew 10

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.


Jesus Christ Holds All Things together by the Word of His Power


Colossians 1

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.


Hebrews 1:3

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.


Timing is Critical in God’s Answers

If we begin to understand the vast breadth of God’s Economy and His Personal involvement in the entire universe and in our individual lives, we begin to gain a small view into the necessary elements in which time must play a vital role.  We pray, and God works with all the elements in detail (including the dynamics of our prayer that may not be so humble, or with the purest motives).


Unseen Spiritual Battles are also Involved in Answered or Unanswered Prayer

Daniel 10:10-14 gives us a small glimpse into the cloaked and invisible domain of spiritual warfare.  God not only is involved in fulfilling prayer in the multiplicity of human dynamics, He is also engaged in the fulfillment of prayer in the vast array of unseen spiritual involvement.


Daniel 10

10 And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”


Do these passages give us a bit more breadth in our understanding that timing is essential in the answer of our prayers?


God’s responses to our prayers are in concert with everything else involved with honorably hearing and responding to our requests, with consideration of everyone else’s needs spoken or unspoken, interrelated with our request – including the dynamic of spiritual warfare!  The response to those unanswered prayers then reveal who we are and the depth and maturity of our faith.


Biblical Accounts of Responding to Unanswered Prayer:  “Thy Will, over My Will”!


Job’s Seemingly Futile Prayers


Job prayed for his children’s spiritual life (for forgiveness if they had sinned and cursed God – Job 1:4,5), “Thus Job did continually”. 


Because Job prayed faithfully for his children, I am certain Job also cried out to God about the dilemma of his serious personal circumstances – but it seemed that God did not hear.  I ask you, had God heard him?  Most certainly!


God had a higher purpose for Job’s calamities than what Job could understand.

What was Job’s resolve while he was experiencing the worst calamities of his life?

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”


Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s resolve in the face of certain death.


Daniel 3

8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,

O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”


In their case, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered from the fiery furnace, while at the same time the resonance of their faith is heard under the most severe and uncertain of circumstances.  Could they have been burnt up, as were those who threw them into the fiery furnace?  Certainly, but the clarity of their faith resounds throughout heaven, for eternity, with their clear and genuine affirmation toward God, uttered from a believing, faithful heart BEFORE they knew the outcome.


Paul Didn’t Have All His Prayers Answered


Paul’s prayer for the release of the “thorns” in his life was not answered as he wished.  This is how he responded to the unanswered prayer in regard to the “thorns” in his life.


2 Corinthians 12

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


Jesus’ Agonizing Prayer in the Garden


Jesus prayed that, if it was His Father’s will, that the cup of suffering and death pass from Him.  So agonizing and intense was Christ’s prayer that capillaries broke in his forehead and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground.


Matthew 26

39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”


Luke 22

41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.


What would have happened if God, the Father, would have heard and answered the cry that Jesus, His only Son, prayed so fervently in the garden?  We would have no redemption from sin and no eternal life!


The “cup” was not removed from Christ.  Accomplishing God’s will was the fulfillment of His prayer.  Jesus Christ is our example in offering our requests, “not as we will, but if it be your will”.  When Jesus was despised, rejected, inhumanely tortured and crucified, He then entrusted Himself to Him who Judges Justly!  He looked past the unjustness of this world to the glory that would be revealed to Him.


1 Peter 2

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.


What Does the Scripture Say Causes Unanswered Prayer, Other than God’s Greater Purpose (His Will, His Timing and Interaction with Others, etc.)?


When some Prayers are not answered, it is because our prayers are selfish or carnal


James 4

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.


Who Intercedes for Us?


Prayer is also involved with the Spiritual Intercession of the Holy Spirit and with the Intercession of Christ Himself


Romans 8

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.


Romans 8:33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.


Hebrews 7

24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.


Can we begin to comprehend that the Holy Spirit groans for us and Jesus Christ Himself intercedes for us in heaven, before God, the Father?  As we are seeking God’s Will, we will be led by the Holy Spirit to find it!



Answered or Seemingly Unanswered Prayer May Also be Affected by Eternity


God’s Plan for us also includes our eternal place in His Heavenly Kingdom.  This may be incomprehensible to us right now, but eternity is a very long time…and we will not just sit around on a cloud playing a harp all that time!  Our answered or unanswered prayers may have some relationship with who we will be in eternity.


Hebrews 11

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.


Answered prayer can be extremely powerful and exciting:  kingdoms are conquered, justice is enforced, promises of God are claimed, and lion’s mouths are stopped…


Sometimes there are those who may or may not pray for deliverance because their hearts are set on the Eternal Kingdom – the Kingdom whose Architect and Ruler is God!  We must keep an eternal perspective if we want to understand “unanswered prayer”!


Let’s look more closely at our Eternal Home

Revelation 21 says that there will be a New Jerusalem come down from heaven with 12 pearl gates relating to the 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 foundations to its jewel encrusted walls, identifying the 12 Apostles, and it is BIG: 12,000 stadia square (a stadion is an ancient unit measuring length from the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, which was about 607 feet or 185 meters).  The measurement of the Holy City is 12,000 stadia square, which is approximately 1,380 miles long, 1,380 miles high, and 1,380 miles wide – 1,380 miles square.  That is a gigantic city – almost from the Canadian Boarder to the Mexican Boarder, from the Pacific Coast line across to somewhere near the boarder of Minnesota – approximately half way across the United States.  The footprint goes back down to Louisiana then back again across Texas and California, returning to the Pacific Coast again – for comparison, almost an even half of the United States, but don’t stop there, go up.  Go straight up 1,380 miles into the heavens and make that square with the huge foundational footprint on earth – that is the approximate size of this marvelous and gigantic city!  We will be part of the inhabitants of that city, if our name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  There will be vast interaction in that Holy City with the whole world.  We will rule with Christ from that eternal city. 


Our time here on earth right now is the tiny first act on the stage of life that continues through the Millennium and then finishes forever in the Holy City.


The Parable of the Faithful Steward and the Eternal Reward evidenced in God’s Eternal Kingdom for those who Faithfully Serve God


Luke 12

42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.


[Note:  Jesus was quite aware (as were those to whom He was speaking) of the Law of Moses and the punishment given to those deserving stripes.  Deuteronomy 25:2,3]


The Parable of the Talents – the Eternal Benefit for some in God’s Eternal Kingdom and Demise of others


Matthew 25

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents [A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years’ wages for a laborer], to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’


A Glimpse of the Holy City and the Eternal Dynamic Surrounding It – Each of us will see Eternity – How will we spend it?

(How does this affect our understanding of the value of faith in God now, including the dynamic of answered or unanswered prayer?)


Revelation 21

24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.


Revelation 22

3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.


There is certainly more than meets the eye, when it comes to our place in eternity.  The ups and downs of life that we may be going through right now, most likely, are related somehow to our coming place and responsibilities in eternity. 


Conclusion


Understanding Prayer in View of God’s Vast Economy

The Power of God, the interrelationships of prayer and the spiritual dimension of prayer


Biblical Accounts of Responding to Unanswered Prayer:  “Thy Will, over My Will”!

Job, the three facing the fiery furnace, Paul, and Jesus Himself.


Our Carnality and selfishness a hindrance to prayer


The Intercession of Christ and the Holy Spirit on our behalf


The Eternal Perspective of both Answered and Unanswered prayer


The prayers that God answers for us…and those we consider not answered could quite likely be related to faith, to timing, to carnality, to the people and events surrounding us in life, to God’s Will, and to eternity.  Eternity is considerably longer than our 70-80 years (more or less) that we may live on earth – but somehow these years set the stage for who we are in eternity.  The reality of each person’s faith in God is revealed here…without our comprehensive understanding or perception of eternity.  That is what makes our time on earth ultimately so important.  Faith in God is revealed on earth when there is no tangible reason (in some people’s minds) to believe in God, spiritual Truth, or confidence that God will work out His best for those who trust Him.  The things that we can visibly see, the Scripture says, are only temporal – the things that are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).


***

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient,

but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-16


…For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions…

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release,

so that they might rise again to a better life.

Hebrews 11:32-35


…Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31b


Pray without ceasing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17