Why are some Prayers never answered by God? Pastor Mark Finley explores this question and more as he studies the topic of praying from the Bible.

<p>Why are some Prayers never answered by God? Pastor Mark Finley explores this question and more as he studies the topic of praying from the Bible.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

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Mark Finley

The Mystery of Unanswered Prayers

Have you ever felt that as you were kneeling and you prayed, your prayers hit the ceiling and kind of bounced back at your feet?

Have you ever felt that you've been praying into some dark hole in space?

And you've wondered, is there anybody out there listening?

Have you ever felt that as you were kneeling and you prayed, your prayers hit the ceiling and kind of bounced back at your feet.

Have you ever felt that you've been praying into some dark hole in space and you've wondered is there anybody out there listening?

Now 1 thing is for certain, the Bible is clear on the importance of intercessory prayer.

The apostle Paul was in prison in Rome And he wrote to the church at Philippi.

And he shared with this church his concern, his burden for them.

And he says in Philippians chapter 1, I thank my God, verse 3, upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making request for you all with joy." Paul says, here I am in a dark, damp, dingy dungeon in Rome, but I'm kneeling here in this dungeon.

I'm praying for you, And as I pray for you, I believe my prayers are going up to heaven.

And I'm praying that God will strengthen you.

I'm praying that you'll constantly have a greater knowledge of his will, that the eyes of your understanding will be open to know his word and to be sensitive to his spirit.

When you come to the book of Colossians, for example, Colossians 1, verse 3.

Now again, Paul's praying for the church at Colossae.

We give thanks to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith.

Paul says to the church at Colossae, we're praying for you.

Here in Ephesians, the first chapter, Just as Paul prayed for the church at Philippi, just as he prayed for the church at Colossia, so he's praying for the church at Ephesus.

And he says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15 and onward.

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love of all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

1 thing we notice about the Apostle Paul and his prayers, They're very, very specific.

At times, Paul prayed for specific people.

Again, at times, he prayed for specific people.

And here, he prays for the church at Ephesus.

Now, when we pray, does God always answer our prayers?

What prayers can we pray that we can have absolute assurance that God will answer?

And what prayers might be a little bit iffy and what prayers won't he answer?

That's an important question, an important series of questions actually.

I think this is 1 of the most significant chapters in all the Bible on prayer.

And this passage is certainly 1 of my favorites on prayer.

1 John, that's right before the book of Revelation, chapter 5, verse 14 and onward.

Now notice, 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 the petitions we desired of him.

Is there a qualification in this passage?

This is the confidence that we have in him.

Now what are the things in the Bible that we know are according to God's will?

We know it's according to his will to forgive our sins.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

So when I come to Jesus on my knees or lying there in my bed and say, Lord I failed you, I lost my temper, Lord I wasn't really honest in this instance.

Lord, some of the things I watched on television were not in harmony with your will.

Do I have to say, oh Jesus, if it's your will, forgive me?

Not at all, because we know it's his will to forgive our sins.

All of the spiritual blessings that he offers us are according to his will.

So we don't have to ask him if it is his will for the spiritual blessings of heaven.

We can pray and believe our sins are forgiven.

Not because we feel forgiven, but because we trust his word.

We may still feel the condemning voice of our conscience, but that has little to do with it.

We believe that we are forgiven, that our guilt is gone.

Romans 8, verse 1, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

What else we know is according to his will?

So when we pray for victory over an evil temper, we don't say, oh God, if it's your will, give me victory.

When we pray for victory over some habit in our life, like alcohol, tobacco, we know it is will, is his will, we can claim that victory because he's promised to give it to us.

The Bible says, I can do all things, Philippians 4, verse 13, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.

I remember 1 time I was helping a man quit smoking.

And as I was talking to him about these great promises of God, this is the confidence that we have in him.

If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

I asked him, is it God's will for you to quit smoking?

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The Mystery of Unanswered Prayers

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