Hey, my prayers aren't getting answered!

I love the Lord for hearing me, for listening to my prayers. Yes, he paid attention to me, so I will always call to him whenever I need help. (Psalm 116:1-2)

We all experience times when we don't think our words are getting through to God - times when answers are delayed, times going from rough to horrible, and even times when we want to hear from him, but there doesn't seem to be anything coming our way. I haven't found any evidence in scripture that says God doesn't hear some of our prayers, or that he only hears certain ones. Even when the people of old were praying to him with impure hearts, he heard! It is important to understand there may be a reason for God not immediately answering. As soon as we can discover that 'reason', the better!

God will not listen to our prayers when we have unconfessed sin in our lives. "I cried out to him for help, and I praised him. If I had been hiding sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened to me." (Psalm 66:17-18). "Look, the Lord’s power is enough to save you. He can hear you when you ask him for help. It is your sins that separate you from your God. He turns away from you when he sees them." (Isaiah 59:1-2) If we feel our prayers aren't being 'heard', the first thing we should do is ask God if we have any unconfessed sin in our hearts. Even if he hasn't answered those other prayers, he WILL always answer this one!

"We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him." (I John 5:14-15) Sometimes we have been praying so earnestly for things that are just totally outside of God's will for us. We might not realize it at first, but God will show us his will, and if we have been seeking things outside of his will, it is time to lay that line of seeking down at the altar. We can desire a relationship he doesn't want us to have - a thing we may have pursued with earnest but come to realize is not really taking us places God wants us to be either spiritually, emotionally, or physically. Lay it down! Don't hold onto things that don't agree with his will.

"You want things, but you don’t get them. So you kill and are jealous of others. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God. Or when you ask, you don’t receive anything, because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want to use it for your own pleasure." (James 4:2-3) We can all be guilty of not even asking God for whatever it is we need, then blame him because we didn't receive something. We need to ask - according to his will, in his timing, and with faith. We also might ask for things for a very wrong reason - out of selfish ambition or pride. Whenever we do this, God cannot abide the 'motive' behind the requests. Don't expect God to just jump when you ask selfishly - his answer may be a resounding 'no'! Just sayin!