Take a minute and thank God that He hasn’t answered every prayer we’ve prayed, the way we wanted Him to answer it. Thank Him that He hasn’t granted all the things we’ve asked Him for over the years because if He had, we’d probably be in a real mess right now!
James wrote we have “wrong motives” and that’s why God has said no to our requests. Thank God for unanswered prayer! We have wrong motives because we are fallen, sinful, foolish, ignorant, and full of pride. That means that our prayers are grounded in those character traits.
If we believe God is wiser than we are… knows better than we do… and is actually God, then we will thank God he didn’t let us marry the person we asked Him to let us marry, get the job we thought we needed, realize the outcome to the situation we thought was best, or answer the way we wanted the hundreds of other prayer requests that were not in line with His will!
Think about this too… there is something you and I are praying about right now. There is a good chance we are praying with wrong motives that are hidden from us. There is the possibility that God will say no to whatever it is we are praying. And if God says no to whatever it is we are praying about, that is the best thing He can do for us… for you… for me. And we need to thank Him for that!
And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. (1 John 5:14)
So then, Pastor Ron, what do you say to the recent leaders who tell their followers to pray for very specific items and requests? Given that people often pray with an agenda they don’t always discern themselves, and way too many well intended people pray for very selfish things, how do you direct their prayer lives as a pastor? I hear of people praying for hurricanes to follow a specific path or for a specific job or a particular blessing. What is your response to such prayers? Thanks!
Searching,
I too tell people to be specific when they pray… that’s the only way to pray. I also know that every time we pray, we have an agenda. The only right and proper agenda is God’s glory. Any prayer that isn’t motivated by that is improperly motivated. As James wrote, “You ask and do not receive because you pray with wrong motives to spend it on your selfish desires.”
Bottom line… be as specific as Jesus was in prayer (“If it is your will, let this cup pass from me…”). Then submit our prayers to God’s will as what glorifies Him, also as Jesus did (“Never the less not my will be done but yours.”).
God bless and thanks for the inquiry!
From my personal experience I can say that after considering my unanswered prayers after some tome I was happy that they stayed unanswered 🙂