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Reasons for Unanswered Prayer, Pt. 1
In this 3-Day Devotion, I want to list to you reasons for unanswered prayer:
1) Negativity – Doubt, Worry and Fear
*James 5:15 says, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The prayer of faith will heal, protect, preserve and make whole! It will resurrect someone from death to life. This true lifestyle of prayer will change the atmospheres in which a person steps into. Mingling negativity and prayer will never result in fruitful answers. It will eliminate the opportunity for the grace of God to forgive and cover because doubt, worry and fear shows that an individual really not know God. Lester Sumrall said, “Faith is knowing God.” Faith is built on a true relationship, which builds an unshakeable truth in the very nature of who God is.
*James 5:15 says, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The prayer of faith will heal, protect, preserve and make whole! It will resurrect someone from death to life. This true lifestyle of prayer will change the atmospheres in which a person steps into. Mingling negativity and prayer will never result in fruitful answers. It will eliminate the opportunity for the grace of God to forgive and cover because doubt, worry and fear shows that an individual really not know God. Lester Sumrall said, “Faith is knowing God.” Faith is built on a true relationship, which builds an unshakeable truth in the very nature of who God is.
*Philippians 4:6-8 says, “6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Sometimes, we pray out of a place of worry and fear of what possibly can go wrong. Fear is simply a negative faith. It is the confidence of something failing instead of working. If we would meditate on the goodness of God and stop worrying His peace will saturate our hearts, keeping our hearts and minds sound in Him. Regardless of the outcome, His peace keeps you through because of faith!
*Sometimes we pray and are worried concerning what others think of our needs. Have you ever heard people in church say, “I have an unspoken prayer request”. Now, people type it out on Facebook! This is so unscriptural. He said, “Let your requests be made known to God.” If you are concerned about what someone will think because your marriage is in the rocks or you have been diagnosed with a horrific disease, then my advice is for you to link up your faith with the right people who will not gossip about your needs, but pray for them. All it takes is two or three to agree!
*Matthew 21:21-22 says, “21Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 22And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” The mountain that Jesus was referring to in this passage was the Mount of Olives. According to Zechariah 14:3-5, at the Second Advent of Christ, when Jesus plants His physical kingdom upon the earth, He will plant His feet upon the Mount of Olives, and when He does, an earthquake will take place. When it does, the underground water source underneath the Mount of Olives will come forth, healing the Dead Sea. So, when Jesus said, “If you have the faith as of a grain of a mustard see, you can say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ it shall be done,” He was speaking concerning a mountain in which it was originally prophesied that it would be moved. When your authority aligns with the prophetic words of heaven, you are praying His will on the earth, which results in mountains moving to bring healing to bodies of people who need it most. Sometimes your experiences are to prophetically insert you into a place that brings healing to other people if you had not been through those experiences. Mustard seed faith is not much, but if you take what measure of faith you did have and place it fully into God, nothing is impossible unto you!
*Romans 14:23b says, “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Hebrews 11:1 says, “1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The only way God can answer your prayers is when you pray in faith. What is faith? Faith is anything opposite of sin. It leads to doubt, fear, and unbelief, it is sin! Faith is believing for something that you have not visibly seen or has not manifested in the natural. It is a foresight of things in the supernatural. It is the very foundation of and reason for any hope that you have. We are all dealt a measure of faith (Romans 12:3), but that does not mean that our faith has to be limited in that capacity for the rest of our lives. Your faith can transition from glory to glory, but first of all, what little faith that you have you must put in God. You can have the faith as of a grain of a mustard seed, but it can move mountains if all of that faith is in the God you serve. It is a simple-like minded faith that can only come from the Word of God. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith comes from hearing the Word, which means that your faith will grow when you speak God’s Word and pray God’s Word. The more you pray, the greater the faith you will have. You need to hear yourself pray so that your faith will grow. By speaking the Word in prayer, you build up your faith. Doubt will rob you of the answers that are waiting from your prayers, but the only way to kill doubt is to pray more! Jude 1:20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.” By praying in the Spirit, which could mean in tongues or just follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in how you pray, your spirit is built up in God, and your faith intensifies. If you want your prayers answered, your must faith must be activated through not just reading the Word, but hearing yourself declare the Word, and then allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you! Then, you pray according to the will of the Father, and nothing will be impossible unto you!
*When you prayer to God, you do so, not in the place of a servant, but as a son or daughter. It will build more faith as a result of childlike wonder. When you speak to a mountain, you do so in the authority of heaven, knowing that you are speaking the words of heaven into manifestation and existence in this earthly realm. Heaven is backing you, as you are joint heirs with Christ, meaning that what is His is yours! You take authority because the groom (Jesus) and the bride (church) are one. Your opposition was defeated when Jesus said, “It is finished.” It is up to us to exercise that authority here on earth.
*Numerous times does Jesus say, “Your faith has made you whole” (Matthew 9:22; 15:28; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 8:48; 17:19). Tugging on God’s compassion can heal you, but faith will make you complete in Him, giving Him access to every part of your heart and life that needs to be dealt with in order to change you, bringing you ultimate to a place of true repentance.
*Are we praying out the fear of what can go wrong in hopes of God protecting us, or faith in knowing that He fights for and defends us? Are we praying out of worry, or we making our requests known with praise to Him so that His peace is our covering, regardless of the outcome?
*Fear is contrary to love, power and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Fear is afraid to love because of the potential of being broken. Fear is powerless because it never allows you to see freedom from bondage. Fear does not function in a sound mind because of the “what if’s”.
*I heard a preacher say that Smith Wigglesworth never overcame the pains of kidney stones because he did not have enough faith for his healing but only for others, which is the dumbest statement I have ever heard concerning healing. How can a man have 14 documented resurrections in his ministry and not have enough faith for healing of kidney stones? Again, doubt is not the only reason for unanswered prayers, or even delayed in answered prayers!
2) Aiming at the Wrong Goal/Misplaced Priorities Shown Through the Wrong Prayers
*James 4:3 says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
*James 4:3 says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
*Are you aiming too low, or are you aiming at the wrong thing? Oftentimes, we build ministries and outreaches based upon selfish ambitions rather than intimacy with Jesus in our lust for attention and popularity. We are wanting God to bless something in which He never ordained from the very beginning.
*Don’t ever ask God to use you. Have you ever been used in a relationship? People will show you enough attention until they are done with you. Is that how you view your relationship with God, more as a servant than a son or daughter? It is about knowing Him! In the same sense, don’t pray to use God! What if you just approached God in worship rather than your wish list?
*Some people cannot find the “right church” for them simply because they want to be able to sing, play much or have a pulpit to preach. Once they realize they are not getting that type of attention, then they will hop right down the road to the next church that will give them such an opportunity. All of this because they want to be used! The problem with this is you really do not have a relationship with God because your security is being fulfilled as an employee in God’s business rather than a child who is caught away in the wilderness with Him. Ministry must flow from a place of relationship rather than pursuit of your personal calling, or you will only exhaust yourself while being unbalanced in your ministry and family. Once you grasp this concept, you would be more excited to drive the church vans and interact with kids or volunteer in the children’s ministry than you will to be on a platform. Some people would not even go to a specific church if they were not asked or expected to play, sing or preach because it has become an idol. Some of you need to lay it down for a season and just go after Jesus and let everything flow from that place.
*Because you are called to missions does not mean that you are exempt from loving your neighbor. You should not have to pray, “God, do you want me to drive a van?” If you have a license, it is not going to hurt to come one day early out of three months and volunteer if you come to midweek services. You should not have to turn down an opportunity to be a blessing simply because you do not feel like the food pantry is your life’s calling. Your calling is for God to reveal His Son through you. That is it! Do not complicate a very simply concept. Find ways to give of yourself instead of being served.
3) Out of God’s Will
*1 John 5:14-15 says, “14And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
*1 John 5:14-15 says, “14And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
*Matthew 6:9-10 says, “9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
*When things do not go as you prayed, know that God sees the bigger picture, which is why we must worship and pray more out of our spirit than our soulish realm. Because it sounds like a good idea doesn’t automatically mean that it is a God idea!
*How do we know His will? First of all, we must approach boldly the throne of grace more with our worship than our needs. Our worship allows us to know whose we are, which initiates a childlike wonder that produces a childlike faith. Childlike wonder is why you seen more miracles growing up as a young Christian and minister. We have took a systematic approach to faith when faith is unreasonable itself. It utters ridiculous prayers, knowing who Abba is and how He is willing provide all of the answers!
*Secondly, we must be willing to be silent and meditate upon His Word. We can hear Him with a more distinct clarity when we give Him the opportunity to speak while fasting, which is silencing our flesh and its desires. If we pray His will, we are praying His desires, and He will move.
*Not everything that happens on the earth is a divine act of the will of God. For example, 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God’s will is that all will come to repentance, but has that happened? No, but it is His will, and it is up to us to accomplish His will on the earth. The earth was and has been cursed by sin. Again, not everything that happens on the earth is the will of God. A child being raped is absolutely not part of God’s plan, but we live in a world where evil consumes people’s heart, which typically has transcended from either them or someone before them opening the door to such perversion. A child losing both of his or her parents in a horrific car crash is not because “it was just their time to go”. Are you kidding me? How do you explain that to a five-year old? A loving God took your parents away from you years before you could ever really get to know them. Proverbs 3:1-2 teaches us that by keeping God’s Word in our hearts that we will have a long life, and peace will be added to us. Does that mean these parents shortened their days? Not necessary. What it does mean is that some guy was texting and driving or was driving drunk and hit them head on, driving lawlessly and carelessly while not paying attention to what he was doing! By being lawless, since we live in a cursed world, we automatically open the door for trouble to come. Then, instead of blaming God, we are faced with the challenge to forgive those who made such a horrible mistake. Bad things do happen to good people, but God’s people learn to triumph in the midst of tragedy. We live in a cursed world, and because we are in human flesh, we will face adversity. Bad things do happen to good people. We are not exempt because we are saved. To say otherwise is heresy. If we want to be glorified with Him, we must suffer with Him, knowing that the sufferings of the present time cannot compare to the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:17-18). It is up to us to activate His will upon the earth as children of God!
*Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” If you want answered prayers, you must delight yourself in God. When your delight is in Him, which means to make yourself luxurious, to the place where you entire worth is completely wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ, then your desires will be His desires, and He will bring them to pass. Your desire will be more about knowing God deeper than it is driving a nicer car or living in a bigger home. Your whole universe will be centered around the Sun of righteousness!
*You never read in scripture where it was God’s will not to heal somebody. When the leper asked Jesus if He was willing to heal him, He said, “I will. Be clean” (Matthew 8:2-3). Even when the Canaanite woman petitioned Christ to deliver her daughter from demonic possession, it seemed as those Christ refused to deliver her because He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but her persistence moved Christ’s heart in such a way that He said, “Be it according to your will” (Matthew 15:28). Our will aligns with Christ’s will when our persistence mingled with faith moves His heart to declare His Word over our lives!
The Doctrine of Laying on of Hands
Acts 8:18-25 says, “18And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, 19Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 20But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 22Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 23For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. 24Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. 25And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.”
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The Transparency of the Church
Galatians 1:11-24 says, “11But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. 13For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. 20Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; 22And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: 23But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. 24And they glorified God in me.”
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Fruit Isn’t Always Immediate
Galatians 6:9-10 (NASB) says, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”
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Let’s Gossip About God!
Matthew 14:34-36 (KJV) says, “34And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. 35And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; 36And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.”
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The Church’s System
1 Corinthians 12:11-14 (NASB) says, “11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 12For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14For the body is not one member, but many.”
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What is Written on the Walls of Your Imagination?
Ezekiel 8:7-12 says, “7And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. 8Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 9And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 10So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. 11And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.”
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How to Make Imaginations a Reality!
Genesis 11:5-9 says, “5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
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Casting Down Evil Imaginations
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 says, “3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (TPT) says, “For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide (strongholds) . We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience.”
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Imagining God’s Thoughts
Ephesians 1:18 (TPT) says, “I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones!”
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