Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayers?
The Bible gives us no room to expect anything other than a “Yes” from God for all of our prayers.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Mat 7:7
This instruction can be very confusing. Being told to expect a gift from a “perfectly reliable and freely giving God” –when experience tells you that God is anything but those things –is MADDENING. I finally got my “Yes” after more than a decade of prayers, and I finally understand this Scripture. Here, with God’s help, you can narrow down why you have not gotten your “Yes.” Scripture shows us it’s among these 3 things:
1. You have been faithful to God, so you are being pruned.
"Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit." John 15:2
In case you did not know, some of us will have a bigger reward than others in Heaven.
"If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire." 1 Cor 3:12-15
Want a bigger reward? Pass more tests. Harder tests.
"Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-4
God is testing your faith. “What faith,” you may ask? Good news; The faith that He will take you out of the test!
"Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little." 1 Pet 5:10
“But some Christians die without ever seeing their prayers answered on Earth. What about the martyrs? You’re preaching the Prosperity Gospel!”
God does require that we lay down everything and everyone that we love beneath our love for Him.
"The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it." Mat 10:37-39
But this same Scripture shows us that we are not just laying down everything to accept a loss, but knowing that it will be a gain in the end. Scripture never expects anyone to make any sacrifices without an exceeding reward.
"If I fought wild animals in Ephesus with only human hope, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 1 Cor 15:32
Those martyrs did receive a blessing greater than they sought, and they would tell you to expect the same –in the land of the living. They themselves have shown you that you have nothing to lose even if you are “disappointed.”
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18
"Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
while I am here in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13
Disappointment is nothing but proof that you actually had faith. And the tears are what keep you praying.
"O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
"Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, 'We have defeated him!'
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.
"But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the Lord
because he is good to me." Psalm 13
Tears are not wrong.
"You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book." Psalm 56:8
Cry them in faith, not despair.
"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." 1 Pet 5:7
“Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?" Job 38:2
2. You are being disciplined for your current sin.
God will not discipline you for sin that you have repented of, although Satan will try.
"Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything." 1 John 3:20
A shepherd will beat his sheep with a rod to get it out of harm’s way. It hurts. But the pain won’t stop until the sheep turns from its harmful path.
We do not always know when our sin is causing our own pain. Yes, it can take the form of a curse, but often we are shooting our own selves directly in the foot.
"For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
"But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world." 1 Cor 11:29-32
"People ruin their lives by their own foolishness
and then are angry at the Lord." Prov 19:3
For example, the prodigal son brought himself to the pig pin. This was me: I brought myself to the pig pin. For this reason and the next, God was not answering my prayers.
3. You are withholding your faith.
I was praying for a godly, selfless, beautiful, warm, and fun wife. For more than ten years. But do you know what I ended up starting my prayers with?
“God, I don’t even believe You’re gonna do this, but Your Word says to keep asking.” I felt safer deciding that it would never happen. No emotional risk.
Well, one day I decided that He was going to do it. And how long did I have to wait for my bride after I decided to give Him faith? TWO WEEKS!
Notice that I did not say, “You don’t have enough faith.” When the Disciples asked Jesus how to grow their faith, He told them that all they needed was faith the size of a mustard seed to launch mountains into the ocean (Matthew 17:20)!
Jesus is saying that you CAN’T grow your faith. Your faith will always feel small when it counts, but what MATTERS is clinging to the little that you have. The smaller the faith clung to, the greater the reward in Heaven.
"But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then." Mark 10:31
There are more scriptures that I can use to support these truths, but I have included a few to make this article readable.
God's plan for your life is explored more deeply in this article here: What does “Grace” Mean in the Bible? and in our book, "Jesus' Crazy Dream." Learn how you can be the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17.
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