UNANSWERED Prayers

[Jhon]

Why do I have lots of UNFULFILLED prayer requests? Not a day pass that I did not pray and reflect to God what His plan for me. They always say God will let it come in the right time but isn't it God is BEYOjava script:emoticon('', 'smid_18')

smilieND time or is He likewise bound by it?

[Giaour]

All prayers get answered, sometimes the answer is just "No".

[Nicks Girl]

Exactly.. sometimes the answer is just no, because God knows what is best for us.

[yomotalking]

Sometimes it is hard to accept if it's no.....

[Iryssa]

Ever heard Garth Brooks' song "Unanswered Prayers"? That's one of my favourite illustrations of why God sometimes answers with a "no"

Anyway, I heard a pastor say that there are many ways God answers prayer:

1. Yes: your motives are right and it is my will.

2. No: Your motives are wrong

3. No: I have something else in my plan, something greater.

4. Wait: it is not the right time yet.

There were a few more, but that's the gist.

[Leonard]

When I was a little boy, I used to pray for "Mr. Spock" ears every night! Boy, am I glad some of my prayers haven't been answered!!!

I trust that now, as an adult, my prayers have more wisdom about them, but what do I know compared to God; Who probably is up in heaven laughing at some of my current prayers, as I do now about my prayers for Spock ears!

[Jhon]

Thank you very much for your promising advices - especially to Serenity Grace. Yes, that's the most hurtful thing - that I have to realize God's answers "NO" to my prayers. Actually, as of the moment, to be honest, I keep my prayers as NEUTRAL as possible, merely thanksgiving and somewhat REFRAINING from making specific requests as I know it would just hurt myself asking in good faith while getting no results. From experience, it has often been the case that what I EXPECT doesn't happen while what I UNEXPECT do happen! Life is such a paradox and you don't know what you got until it's gone.

I know though that whenever God says "NO" to my prayers, He do has BETTER alternatives. My only wish is for such alternatives to manifest instead - for even those options of Him I cannot yet feel. I just want to know whether God refuses because we differ in the MEANS (ways) or in the END (objective) itself - because as they say, the end JUSTIFIES the means(?).

[jesussaves]

One of the most awesome and profound prayers ever prayed was in the garden of Gethsemane by Jesus Himself.

"And He (Jesus) was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, "Father, if You be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done."

"And there appeared an angel to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were blood falling down to the ground."

As we can see here in the Bible, Jesus prayed with all His heart, then He left it with the Father.

Worthy is the Lamb. How good He is and worthy to be praised!!

[Kabowd]

Thank you very much for your promising advices - especially to Serenity Grace. Yes, that's the most hurtful thing - that I have to realize God's answers "NO" to my prayers. Actually, as of the moment, to be honest, I keep my prayers as NEUTRAL as possible, merely thanksgiving and somewhat REFRAINING from making specific requests as I know it would just hurt myself asking in good faith while getting no results. From experience, it has often been the case that what I EXPECT doesn't happen while what I UNEXPECT do happen! Life is such a paradox and you don't know what you got until it's gone.

I know though that whenever God says "NO" to my prayers, He do has BETTER alternatives. My only wish is for such alternatives to manifest instead - for even those options of Him I cannot yet feel. I just want to know whether God refuses because we differ in the MEANS (ways) or in the END (objective) itself - because as they say, the end JUSTIFIES the means(?).

I'd like to encourage you to read this topic:

http://www.worthyboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29246

A couple of things to keep in mind, there's no reason to try to be "neutral" when you pray because God already knows the specifics in your heart. Maybe He's longing for you to get gut level honest and just pour your heart out to Him. Tell Him you're afraid, tell Him you're cauteous about making any request because you don't want to be "let down" or disappointed. The truth is, sometimes we are going to be disappointed by God. Sometimes (alot of times) He's not going to do things the way we ask or want, but the beautiful thing is that we can trust His heart to do what's best! It's honestly a wonderful blessing that He doesn't do what we ask. Our perspective in life is so limited, we cannot know or understand what we really need or even what we want. My brother described it to me like watching a parade go by. We, as humans, can only see the section passing by right in front of us. Our view is limited and so it's hard to determine what is best for us in that moment. But God's perspective is like someone sitting on top of a high-rise building...able to see the beginning, the middle and the end all simultaneously. He knows what's ahead of us and what we need to get us ready for it.

The other thing to consider is the importance of being patient and not losing hope in God. Maybe you could do a study on different things that were prayed for in Scripture and how long it took for those things to come to pass. In many cases, God didn't "answer" them for years and years and years. It's easy for us to look at bible stories and become detached. We tend to forget that this happened in real time, and the characters experiencing these things didn't know the outcome until the end. They couldn't skip ahead a few chapters and see their release from captivity, to see the child conceived that they prayed for, or to see the Messiah come that had been prophesied to them. We have the benefit of reading about them and seeing how it all played out, but they had to trust God through those things just like you and I do now.

So anyway, don't lose heart. Don't be tempted to question God's goodness...or even His timing. Psalm 56:8 tells us He saves every tear that we cry. Your prayers are heard, you can trust that He's waiting for just the right time to bring those things to pass.

[yomotalking]

When I was a little boy, I used to pray for "Mr. Spock" ears every night! Boy, am I glad some of my prayers haven't been answered!!!

I trust that now, as an adult, my prayers have more wisdom about them, but what do I know compared to God; Who probably is up in heaven laughing at some of my current prayers, as I do now about my prayers for Spock ears!

Who is Spock?