God, Why Are My Prayers Unanswered?

God, Why are my prayers unanswered? This is a question I expect everyone who prays has asked themselves from time to time.

Years can go by when we have asked God over and over for the same things and still we wait.

We know that there are people in the Bible who experienced the same- waiting for a very long time for answers.

• Abraham and Sarah waited for many years for the son that God promised and Sarah was beyond child-bearing years when the promise was fulfilled. Passages in Genesis 12-21
• King David was promised the throne of Israel. He waited about 15 years to become king and during that time he had to endure a lot of struggles that included even attempts on his life. Passages in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel
• Joseph had dreams as a young man that became a reality years later. Before they became a reality, he suffered at the hands of his brothers who sold him into slavery. Passages in Genesis 37-50

These people did have their prayers answered in the right time  – the time that God had prepared them for.

But what about our prayers in these days? Does God still answer prayer?

Yes, absolutely! There are hindrances to prayer though that we need to be aware of. 

The motives of our prayers need to be examined.

James 4: 2-3 tells us exactly why we do not have what we want. Very straightforward, we are told that we don’t have answers because:

• we don’t ask God
• we ask with wrong motives
• we ask so that we can spend what we get on on our pleasures.

In the very next verse, James goes on to remind us in James 4: 4-6 that being a friend of the world is hatred toward God.

So is pleasure sinful?

No, not all pleasure is sinful, God has given us many things in this life for our pleasure and He wants us to enjoy them according to His design and good plans for us. James 1:17

What we must guard against is friendship with the world that involves seeking pleasure at the expense of others or at the expense of obeying God’s Word. 

If the pleasure we seek, does not please God, then it is sinful.

Read this article Our Motives in Prayer for greater detail which also includes Right Motives in prayer.

The following list will identify some of the hindrances to answered prayer in our lives:

• Living for worldly pleasure.  James 4:4
• Unconfessed sin.  Isaiah 59:1-2
• Idolatry, occult involvement.  Ezekiel 14:3 
• Stinginess, greed, the love of money. 1 Timothy 6:10
• Unbelief and doubt.  John 16:9;  James 1:6-8
• Refusing to forgive and bitterness. Matthew 6:14-15
• Wrong behavior towards your spouse. 1 Peter 3:7
• God opposes the proud  James 4:6
• Selfish motives when we pray. James 4:3
• A critical spirit. Romans 14:10
• Lack of Thankfulness  1 Thessalonians 5:18
• Failing to make full restitution Leviticus 6:4-5
• Love of the world and worldliness. 1 John 2:15
• Neglecting to pray in Jesus’ Name. John 14:14
• When you don’t pray according to the will of God. 1 John 5:14

If we are not experiencing the fruit of the Spirit as described  in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in our lives- we will not be able to hear the Spirit speaking to us until we confess our sin and make our hearts right with God. Likewise, God will not answer our prayers when our heart is aligned away from Him.

If we are living and  operating in the strength of our own flesh, we need to examine our lives. There is a description of what living in the flesh looks like in Galatians 5:19-21

In Summary, when our hearts, our desires, our motives, our lives, our prayers align with God’s will for us, He will certainly answer in His time.

“This is the confidence we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”   1 John 5:14,15 

The key phrase in these two verses is “according to His will” which means that we are not asking for what we want but what He wants. We do not insist on receiving answers to our own desires.

Prayer of Response:

So Father, we know that you love us so much that you gave us your only Son, Jesus, to suffer, shed His blood for the cleansing of our sin.

He was crucified for us – to save for eternity with you in Heaven – for all who will come in repentance of their sin to the foot of the cross and profess Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives.

We thank you that You resurrected Jesus from the dead and that He is now our Advocate with you on our behalf.  When we come to you in prayer, we can come in confidence and assurance knowing that you will answer our prayers. 

Father, we pray for your help in our daily routines to keep our hearts following after Jesus by spending time in your Word, in prayer and in quiet time so that we can hear your Holy Spirit speak to us.

Help us Father to keep short accounts with you, to seek forgiveness for sin and for the power to resist temptation to sin.

We long to know you intimately; convict us of  sin we are clinging to so that our prayers will not be hindered. We long to experience all that you desire for us.

These things we pray in Jesus strong and powerful name,

AMEN