The story is told of a Russian scientist who was found guilty of a
crime against the state. He was sentenced to a prison in the middle of a
desert. His cell mate was another scientist. He was determined to
escape, and he urged his cell mate to join him, but he refused. After
much planning he did finally escape, but the heat of the desert was
unbearable, and the lack of food and water plus in the inability to
locate another human being almost drove him mad. He was forced to
return to the prison. He reported his terrible ordeal to his cell mate,
and he responded, "Yes, I know. I escaped and failed for the same
reason." The scientist was beside himself with frustration and said,
"Why in heaven's name didn't you tell me what it was like out there?"
His cell mate replied, "I didn't want to be a negative thinker."
For lack of negative thinkers, that is people who will tell it like it is,
even when what is is not what we want it to be, there are masses of
people who, if they do not die in the desert of despair, survive with
weakened faith, and scars on their soul. The more I study, the more I
realize how absolutely vital it is that we listen to our Lord. He told it
like it was, and like it is, and like it shall ever be. Jesus tells us in all
honesty that there is a desert out there. He warns us of the dangers,
and does not shy away from being a negative thinker.
"Be careful," he warns as he opens this chapter. There are all kinds
of ways you can lose out and damage your relationship to God. The
paradox is that all of the areas of danger are good things. They are
things like giving, prayer, and fasting. You can do all these good things
in such a wrong way that they drive you from God rather than draw
you near to Him. This is not a pleasant reality for Jesus to lay on us,
but thank God for one who tells us of the dangers, and gives warning so
we can avoid them.
Most godly men will not give us such warnings, for they are fearful
of being negative thinkers. Jesus makes it clear that it is the truth that
sets us free, and truth covers a lot of territory, and it includes the dark
side as well as the light side. Only the whole truth will make us free. S.
D. Gordon was right when he said, "It is always bad to have the truth
hid from our eyes." This means that if there is a negative side to an
issue, it is bad not to think about it and be a negative thinker. I want to
focus on the negative truth Jesus tells us about prayer. There are
many books on prayer that will not tell you what Jesus tells you,
because they do not want to be negative thinkers. They hope by
avoiding the negative they will protect you from that side of reality.
But what they do is force you to learn about the negative the hard way,
and risk permanent damage to your faith.
Jesus will not do this, and that is why we must listen to Him, and test
all others by the light of His Word. You will have to read far and wide
on prayer to find anyone who comes close to Jesus in telling the
negative side of prayer. I see three major reasons why prayer is not
answered in the teaching of Jesus in verses 5 through 14.
1. First is the matter of motivation. You can pray for the wrong
reason, and when you do your prayer never reaches heaven at all. It is
a bird without wings.
2. There is the matter of misconception. You think that quantity is
what impressed God, and so by vain repetition you hope to storm the
gates of heaven. Jesus says forget it, for prayer is not magic, and God
is no machine.
3. There is the matter of missing mutuality. If you do not have the
same spirit as God does in forgiving others, do not expect Him to
answer your prayer for forgiveness. God's love is like electricity; it
will not flow in where it cannot flow out. You can't receive what you
will not give. Jesus promises us that if we refuse to forgive our prayer
for forgiveness will not be answered.
So Jesus tells it like it is in the world of prayer, and in so doing He
complicates things, and forces us to wrestle with the conditions for
answered prayer. What happens when we do not want to wrestle with
such things, and take the short cut of teaching very positively that God
answers all prayers? Such positive teaching may induce faith in those
whose life is smooth sailing, but injures faith in those whose voyage is
across stormy seas. The only real question is this: Is it true? Does
God answer all prayers? Let's look at how this teaching has affected
the lives of those who have believed it.
1. A young girl tore her new geography book just before school ended
for the day. She put it in her desk and went home feeling bad about it.
She remembered her teacher had taught her that God would do anything
for her. So she prayed that He would fix the book so that it
was not torn anymore. She prayed with persistence, and with faith.
She eagerly went to school the next day expecting the book to be as
good as new. It was a great disappointment to find the page was still
torn. Her faith was thrown for a loop, and she struggled with many
questions. Was she a bad girl? Didn't God like her? Was she rejected
by God? How many millions of children go through terrible times of
self-rejection because they are taught that God will answer all their
prayers?
2. Somerset Maugham in Of Human Bondage has the character Philip
praying that his club foot would be healed so he could play sports.
With no doubts in his mind he prays fervently, but in the morning he
comes limping to the breakfast table. Now he is not only defective of
body, but damaged in spirit.
3. Mark Twain's greatest objection to Christianity was the teaching of
children that God answers all their prayers. He writes of how
Huckleberry Finn had such a teacher, and of how he experimented
with prayer. He once got a line he said, but no hooks, and it warnt any
good without hooks. He prayed 3 or 4 times for the hooks, but couldn't
make it work. Huck said he went into the woods and had a long think
about it. If prayer can get anything, why don't deacon Winn get back
the money he lost on pork? Why can't the widow get back her silver
that was stole? Why can't Miss Watson the teacher fat up? He
concluded, "No, says I to myself, there ain't nothin to it."
4. R. F. Horton gives this testimony: "I remember as a child putting
God to the test. I placed a bright farthing in a drawer, and then knelt
down and prayed for God to transmute it into a half-sovereign. With
trembling eagerness I opened the drawer, and found that the copper
was copper still. That was my dawn of skepticism in prayer." If
pennies could be prayed into dollars, all Christians would be faithful in
prayer, and even eager for all night prayer meetings. This childish
dream does not last long, of course, because one is quickly disillusioned
about prayer as magic. This fairy tale level of prayer, however, is still
loften imposed on children and adults by those who do not want to be
negative thinkers.
5. A study of the Civil War reveals that the South had as many godly
leaders as the North, and the prayers for victory were as sincere and
fervent as those in the North. Many godly Christians had their faith
shaken when the South lost the war they had bathed in prayer. God
refused to give victory, even to His own, when they fought for a cause
which was not His will.
6. Madue Royden tells of the British soldier who came home from
World War I, and his family rejoiced as they told him how they had
prayed for him, and knew that he would come home. He protested,
"Don't talk like that. I can't bear it." He had seem dozens of his
comrades killed who were equally prayed for, and some he had
watched die while he prayed with passion for them.
Illustrations of unanswered prayer are endless, and you need look
no further than your own life, for any body who is into prayer at all has
experienced unanswered, as well as answered prayer. Unanswered
prayer is most dangerous when you don't believe it exists, and you
twist and turn reality to fit your notion that all prayers are answered.
Like Miss Marshall and her aunt Miss Marsh who prayed for Captain
Hedley Vicors to be spared as he fought in the Crimean War. He was
shot and killed, but they refused to believe their prayer was
unanswered. They rationalized and said that we prayed for life for
him, and God gave him life forever and ever.
This kind of mind trick may work for some, but the fact is, they
prayed he would not die, and not that he would live forever in heaven
starting then. They made the opposite of what they prayed for to be
the answer to their prayer. Those with this gift can, of course, always
hold fast to their faith that all prayers are answered. But if you define
answer to mean getting what you asked for, the fact is that many
prayers are not answered. I do not like it anymore than you do, but I
prefer to face this reality rather than to pretend that whatever comes
is an answer. With this view there is no distinction between an answer
and no answer. It is popular to say that all prayer is answered either
yes, no, or wait. This is a clever way to include unanswered prayer in
answered prayer. It is saying that since God always has some response
to our prayer, even if it is total rejection, it is still an answered prayer.
It fools a lot of people, for I hear this quote quite often. The motive for
it is good, for it is designed to comfort, and some people do get comfort
out of the idea, or it would not be so popular. The problem is too many
people get to thinking about how no is an answer. It is like trying to
comfort someone who sent out a thousand surveys and only got 47
back, by saying their was a 100% response. Some said yes and sent
them back; some said no and threw them away, and some said I will
wait and throw it away later. Do you really think that this Pollyanna
perspective will convince him that it was a perfect success because
every survey got a response?
It is true, however, that sometimes a non answered prayer is the
best answer. This was written by an unknown Confederate soldier.
"I asked God for strength, that I might achieve: I was made weak that
I might obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things: I was
given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I
might be happy: I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for
power that I might have the praise of men: I was given weakness that I
might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life:
I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I received nothing that I
asked for, but all I had hoped for." God gave him what was best for
him, but the fact is, his prayers were unanswered. He got God's will for
him and not what he prayed for, and so God in His wisdom will not
answer our prayers because they are not the best for us. So our trust is
to be in God and not in prayer.
There are many illustrations that come out of the Civil War, for both
sides had many thousands of prayer warriors. Equally godly
people were praying for victory for their side. The Confederate troops
prayed on their knees with all the fervency that men can pray with
before the battle of Sharpsburg. General Gordon was confident with
such earnest prayer they would win and press on the Washington
within a week. The next day the battle went against them and they were
so discouraged with God. But years later General Gordon admitted it
was a blessing for the country that they were defeated that day, for had
they won and defeated the Union our nation would be among the
weaker nations of the world. In other words, God could not answer
their prayers for victory, because it was contrary to His purpose in
history. We need to keep this in mind when we pray. The very
non-answer could be our greatest blessing.
A false view of prayer that makes it the object of one's faith is a
subtle form of idolatry. It is surprising, but a false view of prayer is
the door to atheism for many. Faith Baldwin tells of the girl whose
fiancée was killed as a pilot, and she said, "I went to church everyday
and prayed. I prayed every night and almost every waking hour. But
he was killed. I shall never pray again, nor enter a church." Prayer
changes things alright, and sometimes for the worst when it is exalted
to the level of magic, or as the key to one's faith. It becomes a subtle
form of blackmail where you, in effect, say to God, "You either answer
my prayer, or I cancel you off my list. I don't want anything to do with
a God who does not do things my way."
Job said, "Though he slay me yet will I trust Him." Now that is
faith in God. Faith in prayer says, "God, if you let me down, I will
forsake you." It is the ultimate in presumption, for in essence it is
saying, "God, you do my will, or you are fired." Man just loves to be
in control of God. There are only three possibilities.
1. God answers all prayer.2. God answers no prayer.
3. God answers some prayers, and does not answer some prayers.
The first two are the only two that people want to believe because
that gives them control. If God answers all prayer, then God is the
servant of man, and all we have to do is manipulate God through
prayer. We have the secret formula, and He is in our hands. The
unbeliever and atheist goes for number two, for if God answers no
prayer, He is of no use, and so for all practical purposes does not exist,
and man is in control.
The third alternative people shy away from because if that one is
true, we don't have any control over God. He is free to chose to
answer or not, and we do not like God having that kind of freedom. It
takes Him out of our hands altogether, and it leaves us at His mercy.
Like it or not, that is the way it is. God is free, and in His sovereign
freedom He can, He does, and He will chose not to answer prayers for
any number of reasons. Here are some-
1. Because of hypocrisy to be seen of men. Jesus said false motives will
lead to unanswered prayer. Matt. 6:5
2. Because of double mindedness. James says, "Let not that man think
he will receive anything from the Lord." James 1:7. James 4:3 makes
it clear that wrong motives will lead to unanswered prayer. He writes,
"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." It is just
common sense that if you are on the wrong road you will not get to
where you want to be. Speed will not help, nor will sincerity benefit the
cause. If you are going the wrong way, nothing will help but turning
around and going the right way. Not even prayer will make a
difference. God will not answer even good prayers when the one
asking is going the wrong way. This is praying so as to use God for
your genie to get your will done. It is saying, not Thy will, but mine be done.
3. Because you refuse to be reconciled with a brother. Matt. 5:23-24
4. Because you refuse to forgive another. Matt. 6:14-15
5. Because of a thousand and one ways by which we refuse to listen to
the Word of God. We become stubborn in disobedience, and like a
rebellious child who does not get his way. Prov. 28:9 says, "If anyone
turns a deaf ear to the law even his prayers are detestable." Prayer
does not always change things, for if the one praying does not change,
the prayer changes nothing. Prov. 20:28-9 says, "Then they will call to
me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.
Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord." A
good example is Saul who was totally out of God's will seeking the
Lord, and we read in I Sam. 28:6, "He inquired of the Lord, but the
Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets." God
sometimes refused to respond at all. In Mic. 3:4 we read, "Then they
will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he
will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done." God
makes the principle very easy to grasp in Zech. 7:13 where he says to
His people who refused to listen to His laws for treating people in
loving kindness, "When I called, they did not listen; so when they
called, I would not listen, says the Lord Almighty."
6. Some requests are just plain contrary to His will. Sometimes they
are like the man before the firing squad who was asked for his last
request, and he asked for a bullet proof vest. It was, of course, refused.
And so it is with many things we ask that have no place in God's plan.
You cannot expect prayer to take the place of work and study. You
cannot pray to get good grades and not put forth the effort to know the
subjects. You cannot pray for your house to get painted and not do it,
or hire it done.
7. Prov. 21:13 says very clearly, "If a man shuts his ear to the cry of
the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." Prayer is
conditional in so many ways. It is not automatic at all. Many times
God had to say to Israel that their sins had separated them from Him
,and He would not even hear their prayers.
8. In I Sam. 8:18 God says to the people who have refused to let His
Lordship be sufficient, and who have demanded a king like the nations
surrounding them had, that he would grant them a king, but that that
the king would become a burden rather than a blessing. Then He adds,
"When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you
have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day." Here is a
promise, not to answer their prayer, but a promise to not answer their
prayer. I don't think this has ever been anybody's favorite verse, but it
is a fact, and God has promised unanswered prayer to be a fact of life.
It is not just possible, it is guaranteed. We reap what we sow, and very
often we cannot undo our choices by prayer. God in mercy often
brings good out of evil, but the fact is, He also often lets us reap the evil
of our choices. Even this may be good for us in the long run, but it is
not an answer to our prayers.
9. In I Peter 3:7 we read, "Husbands, in the same way be considerate
as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker
partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing
will hinder your prayers." Peter makes it clear that we can hinder our
prayers by behavior that is not pleasing to God. Many prayers are
likely not answered because of bad relationships and negative behavior
between mates.
10. Jesus said if two agree on anything their prayer will be answered,
but James and John asked for seats at His right and left hand, but
Jesus said it was not for Him to give, and so the request was refused.
Prayer that is asking for what is out of God's will cannot be answered
by the very nature of it. They also asked if they should pray for fire to
come down from heaven to destroy the Samaritans, but Jesus told
them they had the wrong spirit. Here were two Apostles who knew the
experience of unanswered prayer because they had a spirit that was
not of God.
11. Reginald White has an example even of the unanswered prayer of
Jesus. He writes, "Jesus prayed for Peter, before the great denial, in view
of the denial, about the denial-but Peter still denied. Even the
Lord's intercession could not evade the crucial test, or prevent the
shameful fall." The point is God cannot answer prayer by rejecting the
very freedom he made man to have in His image. He will not change
the basic structure of man's nature in answer to prayer. If prayer
could do this, all people would be long ago saved, and nothing bad or
foolish would ever again be chosen by God's people.
John R. Rice traveled across America, and he reported that the
number one prayer in churches is for unsaved husbands. Why is this
prayer so often unanswered? He says because it was a sin for those
Christian girls to marry them in the first place, and if God just fixed it
up every time what is the point of forbidding it? But God cannot
violate their will and force them to be saved. Prayer will not give
anyone power over another person's will.
12. James 5:15 says, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the
sick person well; the Lord will raise him up." Again, by the very
nature of reality as it is, this prayer cannot be answered always, for
then no one would ever die, and we would have eternal life now by
prayer. This prayer will always be unanswered at some point, and
nobody can expect it to always work.
13. Prayer will not be answered when it is contrary to the laws of
nature, usually. I say usually, for that is what a miracle is, something
contrary to the laws of nature, and miracles do happen, but the fact is,
they are rare compared to the regular operation of those laws. The
little boy who prayed, "Lord, please let the vitamins be in pie and cake
instead of spinach," will not likely see his prayer answered. Nor the
one who prayed, "Lord, please let Detroit be the capital of Illinois."
God will not make 2 plus 2 equal 5 just because it is not to your
advantage that it is 4.
Jesus is not anti-prayer anymore than He is anti-giving or
anti-fasting, or anti-anything that is done for the glory of God and the
good of man. But Jesus deals honestly with the negative side of the
things, for the only way you can avoid pitfalls and disillusionment is to
know the truth. The truth is that there is more unanswered prayer in
this world than we can imagine. The billions of prayers said by rote,
prayer wheels, or other methods of vain repetition, plus numerous
Christian prayers based on ignorance and a false foundation, go
unanswered every day. Fortunately, many of life's blessings do not
depend on prayer at all. God sends His rain on the just and the unjust
alike, and both good and evil enjoy the energy of warmth and light
from the sun. Even those who never pray at all experience a multitude
of God's blessings.
We can be thankful that God does not let everything depend upon
the prayers of man. He permits prayer to influence His providential
plan in nature, but it is primary objective and independent of the
subjective wills of men. Every weekend of the spring and summer
some bride and groom, and some sports lovers, are praying for sun,
and at the same time there are farmers who are praying for rain. If
God permitted prayer to control the weather, a majority on one side
or another would create havoc. I'll leave that realm of reality in the
hands of God, but even in the areas of life where God invites the input
of our prayers, there are many reasons why they are not effective, and
why they go unanswered. Don't feel bad if you have unanswered
prayer. You join the great company of the heroes of history. They
were great persons of prayer, and they changed the course of history
by their faithful prayers, but they also experienced the frustration of
unanswered prayer.
Jesus, of course, is at the top of the list. The perfect Son of God,
whose prayers were always ideal, and yet He had to hear God's no.
"Let this cup pass from me," he prayed, but He had to drink it to the
last drop. He was ready to surrender, and He added, "Not my will but
Thine be done," but His will was not to drink it, and He did not get His
will, for there was no other way. Jesus also prayed for Jerusalem, but
they rejected Him anyway, and His prayer was not answered. He said,
"I would, but you would not." Jesus did not always get His way, and
that is why He wept and experienced sorrow to the depths. He knew
the frustration and the agony of unanswered prayer. God cannot meet
every desire, for many call for the cooperation of man, and if man will
not cooperate, God cannot do it alone because it would violate the free
will of man.
Paul knew plenty of this burden, and one personal problem stands
out. Three times he prayed for the removal of his thorn in the flesh,
and all he got in return was a no. Moses pleaded with God to let him
enter the promised land, but God refused to hear him, and he was not
permitted to enter. David pleaded with God to let his child live, but
the child died. Sometimes God's no makes perfectly good sense. When
Elijah pleaded with God to take his life, we can see why God refused
that request. If God took home to heaven everyone of His children
who cried out in depression for escape, the rapture would be a
continuous process, rather than an event at the end of history. If you
give the issue some concentrated study, much unanswered prayer
makes good sense.
In the first place, life would be a nightmare of uncertainty if God let
the universe be controlled by the prayers of His people, rather than by
natural law. The legend of King Midas illustrates this. He prayed that
all he touched would turn to gold, and he was just delighted as he
began to touch things and increase his fortune. But then he touched his
daughter, and he lost a treasure that gold could not buy as she became
a statue of gold. Thank God He does not grant every whim and wish of
His people. Once when He did it and granted Israelites their wish for
meat, they got with their miracle of the quail a plague that killed them
by the thousands. God granted their wish, but sent leanness to their
souls. In the light of this we should often thank God for unanswered
prayers. Shakespeare was right when he wrote, "We, ignorant of ourselves,
beg often our own harms, which the wise powers deny us for
our good; so find we profit by losing of our prayers."
Longfellow was right when he said, "What discord we should bring
into the universe if all our prayers were answered! Then we should
govern the world and not God. And do you think we should govern it
better? It gives me pain to hear the long, wearisome petitions of men
asking for they know not what." Many a Christian can give testimony
to the blessings of unanswered prayer. One couple pleaded with God
for a certain home. They didn't get it. Later they learned that the
buyer was greatly disappointed because he found much dry rot in it.
We do not always know the good reasons why God does not answer our
prayers, but often we can find that good reason. Unanswered prayer is
a challenge to self-examination. Let's look at a couple of known
reasons why God does not answer prayer and see how this reality
should motivate us to self-examination.
1. We already looked at I Peter 3:7 where prayer may be hindered by
a husband not treating his wife properly. This is very logical, for God
certainly is not going to be a partner in making marriage the opposite
of what He intended it to be. He will not reward behavior that is
contrary to His will, and there is no way to calculate how many prayers
go unanswered because of such behavior. The implication would be
that any abuse of another person will hinder your prayers from being
answered.
2. If God answered all prayers He would be far less discriminating and
rational than our earthly fathers. They do refuse our requests quite
often because they are selfish and uncaring. They refuse many of our
requests because they are caring of us. They know that much of what
we desire is either dangerous for us, or not appropriate at the time.
They know some of the things we request our just plain stupid, and it
would be nothing short of evil to grant the petition. Is our heavenly Father
less concerned about such matters? No way!
He too refuses to grant the enormous number of immature prayers His
children pester Him with daily. He would be irresponsible if He
allowed the world to be run by the whims of His children. We respect
parents who do not let their children turn their home and life into
chaos, but who discipline them and say no. So we ought to expect as
much from our Father in heaven. This means we need to examine our
requests and ask ourselves if we are being selfish and unreasonable to
even expect such prayers to be answered.
Is there any value in all of this negative thinking about the reality of
unanswered prayer? Yes there is! It sets us free from those things that
hurt us worse than the truth that many of our prayers will not be
answered. For example:
1. It sets us free from the illusion that we have a formula for
controlling God. This is a dangerous illusion, and leads to much
disillusionment. This view that all prayer is answered leads many to
give up prayer altogether. The woman who played Olivia Walton, the
mother on the Waltons T.V. show, told of how she was taught by a
priest that all prayer was answered. She got so excited she began to
pray for a bicycle. When she got shoes instead the disappointment was
so great she struggled the rest of her life with doubts. She could have
been spared all of that by being told that maybe, or maybe not, her
prayer would be answered for a bike. The simple truth would have set
her free and given her a realistic view of prayer.
It could have saved Bob Ringer, the author of Looking Out For No. 1,
and Winning Through Intimidation, a loss of faith in prayer. He wrote
of his teen experience. "I prayed for some things that were pretty
important to me and nothing happened. So I just gave up the whole
idea. Sort of outgrew it, I guess." This is what false teaching on prayer
leads to in many lives.
2. It sets us free from a false dependence on God.
People who expect God to take care of everything lack initiative to take
the responsibility to work out their own problems. You cannot just pray for
weeds to go away, you have to get out there and pull and spray. God will not let you
get by with praying about things that you can do yourself. You chances
of getting a toothache taken care of by prayer is quite remote. You can
go to the dentist and use the means available to take care of it. Just as
the bank will not cash all checks until certain conditions are met, so
God will not answer many prayers because you have not met the
conditions. If you use the means available to solve a problem and it
does not work, then it is appropriate to seek God's answer in prayer.
But to expect God to hand you an answer when you do not even try to
use the means He has made available through the wisdom and labors of
men is presumptuous. The church was established to meet many of the
needs of the body, and we need to take advantage of that, and not
expect God to do directly what He does through the body of Christ.
3. It sets us free from the practice of Christian voodoo. We do not stick
pins in dolls to try to influence people, but we do try to do the same
thing, and get control over others through prayer. We would like to
manipulate the lives of others by prayer, and we would if it would
work. But God does not allow prayer to be like magic. He will not
allow us to force people to make the right decisions through our
prayers. They have to make the right choices themselves. It is
legitimate to pray that they will make the wise choices, and to follow
the prayer up with what influence we might have, but we cannot expect
that prayer alone will make people choose wisely. When you pray for
others to do what is best, be prepared for many unanswered prayers,
for God does not rob people of their free will in answer to anyone's
prayers.
We must constantly fight the battle for balance, and not be caught
up with the extremes that say all prayer is answered, or no prayer is
answered. Both extremes are false, and so we need to live in the middle
where we know some prayers are answered and others are not. The
Bible portrays all the great prayer warriors as suffering the agony of
unanswered prayer, but never do they give up on prayer because of
their disappointment. The batter that gets 3 or 4 hits out of 10 is a
hero. He misses more than he hits, but he does not give up and quit. So
men ought always to pray and not faint the Bible says, for those who
are persistent in prayer will have far more answers than those who
give up and cease to pray. Partial success always beats total failure in
anybody's book. Only those who persist in prayer will taste the fruit of
victory along with the agony of defeat. The absence of answers ought
never to keep us from the abundance of answers that will surely come
to those who do not faint and give up.
A realistic view of prayer makes us put our trust in God and not in
prayer. Those who preach that prayer is always answered almost
idolize prayer. It is not prayer that saves us, loves us, gives us guidance
and wisdom, and seeks the best for us in all ways. It is God the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit who is to be the place where we put our faith and
hope, and not prayer. Prayer is just the means by which we
communicate with God. The love and power are in God and not
prayer. When we grasp this we will not be ready to abandon God when
He does not answer all our prayers. We may never know all the
reasons why, but we can trust Him and keep on trusting Him no matter
how many unanswered prayers we have to endure. That is what faith in
God is all about.
If we go to the great faith chapter of Heb. 11 we see many prayers
that were answered, but a whole host of them that were not. After a
long list of great victories we come to the last part of the chapter and
get a list of prayers that were not answered. Many of God's children
were tortured, beaten and put in prison. They were stoned and
butchered and put to death. They were terribly persecuted and abused
and lived a life that was very miserable. They prayed a thousand
prayers that were never answered, but they are commended because
they remained faithful to God, and they never gave up because they
never received the promise. They knew that God would make it up to
them ultimately. This is faith in God, and not faith in prayer, and that
kind of faith is what enables people to endure and press on even when
prayer is not answered.
