UNANSWERED PRAYERS 1John 5:14-15
In the thirty or so years that I have been in ministry, I can hardly count the many times I have been called to answer or explain questions dealing with prayers: How come God has not yet answered my prayer? How long does it take for God to answer a prayer? Is God ever going to answer my prayer? And the most popular one: why does not God answer my prayer?
Just last week, in my Tuesday and Thursday mornings prayer group, I was asked to reflect on the passage above from the apostle John’s first letter, 1John 5:14-15. It reads as follows in the NIV: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” I am inviting you to meditate with me on the question: Does God close His ears to our misguided requests?
Before we go any further, it is important that we take a step back to 1. Identify who John was addressing, and 2. Consider the two conditionals in verse 14 and verse 15. In verse 13, John writes: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” So, John was speaking to the believers, that is the “we”, in verses 14 and 15, not everybody. Faith in the Son of God is sine qua non, a prerequisite to everything else. The confidence expressed in verse 14 comes from first being a believer and second asking according to God’s will. If that condition is met then indeed God hears our requests. And in verse 15, we have the logical deduction that If we (the believers) know that He hears us – because we asked according to His will – then whatever we ask, we know that we have what we ask for.
What about our meditation question: Does God close His ears to our misguided requests?
In essence, the answer is yes. Some prayers He ignores because our hearts desire something that is contrary to His will. The fact is that sometimes He may have better things planned for us than we can ever imagine and He is pleased to grant those prayers that are in line with His will. In the book of James, chapter 4: 2b-3 in a passage titled: Submit Yourselves to God, we read “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
To be fair, there will always be some selfish elements in our prayers. In spite of this, God graciously hears and answers us when we pray. But if our requests center totally on ourselves, rather than on God’s purposes, God refuses to hear, and answer, even though we may be a “believer.” If He granted such requests, His integrity would be compromised and we would not benefit spiritually.
The emphasis here is on God’s will, not our will. When we communicate with God, we don’t demand what we want, rather we discuss with Him what He wants for us. If we align our prayers to His will, He will listen, and we can be certain that if He listens, He will give us a definite answer. Question is: How do we align our prayer with God’s will?
In the book of Romans chapter 8: 26-27 Paul writes “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance to God’s will.”
With the help of the Holy Spirit start praying according to God’s will. Start praying with confidence.
Let us pray. Dear God, we praise your Holy Name. We thank you dear Lord for all that you have done and continue to do in our lives. We trust you, Lord. We believe in you, Omniscient God. You know all about our needs, you know all about our concerns. By the power of your Holy Spirit, inspire us and empower us to do what is right in your sight, and forgive us when we fall short of your expectations. Do for us O God, what we cannot do for ourselves according to our needs and according to your will. All of this we pray in the matchless name of Jesus the Christ. Amen and Amen.
Written by Rev. Franck Aguilh
Just last week, in my Tuesday and Thursday mornings prayer group, I was asked to reflect on the passage above from the apostle John’s first letter, 1John 5:14-15. It reads as follows in the NIV: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” I am inviting you to meditate with me on the question: Does God close His ears to our misguided requests?
Before we go any further, it is important that we take a step back to 1. Identify who John was addressing, and 2. Consider the two conditionals in verse 14 and verse 15. In verse 13, John writes: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” So, John was speaking to the believers, that is the “we”, in verses 14 and 15, not everybody. Faith in the Son of God is sine qua non, a prerequisite to everything else. The confidence expressed in verse 14 comes from first being a believer and second asking according to God’s will. If that condition is met then indeed God hears our requests. And in verse 15, we have the logical deduction that If we (the believers) know that He hears us – because we asked according to His will – then whatever we ask, we know that we have what we ask for.
What about our meditation question: Does God close His ears to our misguided requests?
In essence, the answer is yes. Some prayers He ignores because our hearts desire something that is contrary to His will. The fact is that sometimes He may have better things planned for us than we can ever imagine and He is pleased to grant those prayers that are in line with His will. In the book of James, chapter 4: 2b-3 in a passage titled: Submit Yourselves to God, we read “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
To be fair, there will always be some selfish elements in our prayers. In spite of this, God graciously hears and answers us when we pray. But if our requests center totally on ourselves, rather than on God’s purposes, God refuses to hear, and answer, even though we may be a “believer.” If He granted such requests, His integrity would be compromised and we would not benefit spiritually.
The emphasis here is on God’s will, not our will. When we communicate with God, we don’t demand what we want, rather we discuss with Him what He wants for us. If we align our prayers to His will, He will listen, and we can be certain that if He listens, He will give us a definite answer. Question is: How do we align our prayer with God’s will?
In the book of Romans chapter 8: 26-27 Paul writes “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance to God’s will.”
With the help of the Holy Spirit start praying according to God’s will. Start praying with confidence.
Let us pray. Dear God, we praise your Holy Name. We thank you dear Lord for all that you have done and continue to do in our lives. We trust you, Lord. We believe in you, Omniscient God. You know all about our needs, you know all about our concerns. By the power of your Holy Spirit, inspire us and empower us to do what is right in your sight, and forgive us when we fall short of your expectations. Do for us O God, what we cannot do for ourselves according to our needs and according to your will. All of this we pray in the matchless name of Jesus the Christ. Amen and Amen.
Written by Rev. Franck Aguilh
Posted in Mid-Week Devotional
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