Knowing God through His Word — Part 18
Prayer
When prayers go unanswered, asking “Why?” may bring insight, but more often it erodes peace and disrupts abiding in God’s love. Most believers already know all the pat religious reasons why God doesn’t give us what we pray for.
Usually, the first is doubt and unbelief.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6 NIV
Faith is a gift and pretending to believe or trying to drum it up leads to hypocrisy or to self-condemnation. Proclaiming and forcing faith when it isn’t there, feeds the lie that getting God to answer our prayers depends on us, not Him. It centers our prayers on our own efforts, not on God’s goodness and love. It’s a works trap. It’s not the Holy Spirit’s invitation to build a warm give-and-take relationship with a Heavenly Father who is eager to answer our prayers and is full of mercy and grace. Although Jesus rebuked His disciples for unbelief and exhorted them to faith, it is not helpful to religiously blame our selves or others for unbelief. It is more honest and healthy to acknowledge unbelief and say, “Sorry, God. I can’t or don’t or won’t believe. I don’t have the faith. I know that You teach us that all of Your Kingdom is by faith. I’d like to believe. Help me, help me!”
The second reason often given for unanswered prayer is selfishness.
You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures, James 4:3, NKJV
Well, that’s clear. We are all selfish and we all know what to do about it. Repent. Change our minds. Admit our helplessness over lusts, greed, compulsions and selfish desires and ask God for His power and strength and grace to change and discipline our souls. This is not weird hair-shirt asceticism. God wants to give us beauty for ashes, joy for mourning. He wants us to enjoy and appreciate the fruits of our labors and the pleasures, wonder and beauty of our lives on earth. He wants us to live abundant happy lives with hearts full of gratitude toward God, with hearts that value and protect the worth and rights of others. Selfishness is putting self first with indifference and ingratitude toward God and others.
Thirdly, thinking God doesn’t answer prayer because He is too busy, doesn’t care, or that we don’t deserve His attention are mind poisons. The best antidote I know is to pray more, not less—and especially to pray more about the little things. Keep at it. Eventually, growing evidence will assure you that God’s not to busy for you; He cares for us all and extends His mercy toward all who turn to seek Him; our deserving is moot.
Actual reasons for God’s silence, valid or inept, are easy to find. Francis McNutt’s classic book, Healing, (Ave Maria Press, 1974) includes a chapter called “Twelve Reasons Why People Are Not Healed.” Internet searches for faith vs. presumption yield pages of entries.
I’ve found that when our prayers align with God’s nature and will, He answers them despite our mixed thoughts and feelings. Nevertheless, the likelihood that our own desires will align with His increase exponentially if we set our minds to know Him, His Word and His character, set our hearts to listen for His voice and set our wills to obey His commands.
Thus, it’s always helpful to actively ask, “Father? Holy Spirit? Lord? How should I pray? What do You want to do?” God is not passive. He wants change and growth. He does not agree that things always work out for the best or whatever will be will be. He wants us to participate with Him in bringing His order, goodness, truth and love to every person and into all spheres of our community life.
In asking, “Lord, what do You want to do?” It helps me to dial down—to still my soul, quiet my thoughts, and listen. Then, when thoughts, feelings, and impressions rise up, I talk with God about them and return them to Him. When words come to mind, I speak them out. At times I sense His Holy Spirit is leading, teaching, and praying through me.
Sometimes prayer is a single cry, an intense plea of “Father, Help!” Once, while my mother was critically ill. I cried out like a young child, “God! Don’t let my Mommy die!” Immediately my heart was filled with peace and my mother, in a hospital fifty miles away, surprised her doctors by turning to life. Years later, when I when I prayed for my Dad’s healing, God prepared him and us for his death.
Often, merely asking, “Father, do what needs to be done” or putting a situation into God’s hands brings a quiet holy confidence that God has heard. This knowing sustains our belief. At other times, when unsettled thoughts and feelings persist, it helps to praise God for Himself, to read Scriptures until He speaks through His Word and/or to deliberately speak out and tell Him (if it’s true) that we choose to die to our own thoughts and feelings, we choose to die to the influence of others, and we choose to live only to God and His will.
What do we do when our prayers still seem to fall on the ground, when belief is hard work, and answers feel far away? If you are at all like me, you’ve beaten your head against closed doors—and gotten a headache. You’ve also pushed doors open and wished you could close them again.
More happily, you’ve seen that centering your thoughts on God’s love in times of barrenness can bring grace to humble yourself before His majesty. You’ve learned that barrenness is misleading. Often His answers are near and they usually involve more of Himself and less of you. You’ve watched Him change your heart, desires and prayers. You’ve come to see that He usually always has a larger plan or purpose and, humbled in hindsight, you’ve bowed in grateful worship.
A river of divine faith and life runs between the shadowed sinkholes of God’s silence before our unanswered prayers and our weak or nonexistent faith and the sunlit solid ground of answered prayer, faith, peace, and communion with the Father. The pure water of this river is drawn from God’s written word. Launching our prayers upon that river propels them Godward. In all circumstances, no matter what we might feel, we can confidently ask the Father to fulfill His own Word. We can always ask in faith for—
A relationship with God as Father
But to all who did receive Him [Jesus], who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Forgiveness from sin
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Freedom from sin
. . . Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34b-36.
Freedom from condemnation
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16, 18
Life now
The thief [satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10
Life forever
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24
Jesus said . . . “I am the resurrection, and the life, whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11:25-6
His Holy Spirit in us
Jesus cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive. John 7:37b-39a
His Holy Spirit’s as Helper and the Spirit of truth
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. John 14:16-17a
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things. John 14:26
Faith for greater works than Jesus did and for answered prayers
Whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will He do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14
Light not darkness
I have come into this world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:46
Faith that God will meet our daily needs
If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or What shall we wear?’ . . . and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:30-33
Faith for removal of difficulties and hindrances to God’s will
Jesus answered them, Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen. Matt. 21:21
The capacity to see and agree with what God is doing
Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does like- wise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. John 5: 19, 20a.
When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16: 13-1
The answers to these promises are conditional. They depend upon believing in Jesus and the truth of His word. Since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, if we read and listen to His words—in the Bible, in creation, and within our hearts—our faith will grow. Then we can remind Him of His promises, trust Him through silence and suffering, and rejoice in His answers.
